Colombia is widely recognized for the quality of its Arabica coffee beans, considered among the best in the world. However, unlike other natural products, coffee production is relatively recent in the country. Coffee’s origins in Colombia date back to the colonial period and the arrival of European settlers and merchants in the Americas. This encounter between the Old World and the New World led to groundbreaking exchanges. While the Americas provided Europe with products like tomatoes, potatoes, corn, cacao, and turkeys, Europe introduced wheat, horses, cattle, iron and of course, coffee.
A global spread from Ethiopia
Coffee beans originated in Ethiopia’s Kaffa province, where locals have cultivated and consumed coffee, according to tradition, since the 9th century AD. After gradually spreading to Yemen and the rest of the Islamic world, coffee finally reached the Western world during the 16th century through the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in southeastern Europe (The word “coffee” derives from the Turkish kahve, itself from the Arabic qahwah, meaning “dark.”)
Much like silk, whose production was monopolized by China before Byzantine monks smuggled silkworm eggs in the 6th century, Europeans also managed to gain access to coffee plants. Dutch merchant Pieter van den Broecke is credited with the first successful introduction of a coffee bush to Europe in 1616. From there, coffee production began to thrive throughout Europe in greenhouses and also followed settlers and colonizers to the Americas.
Gabriel de Clieu, a French nobleman and governor of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, is credited with the earliest coffee planting in the Americas, successfully planting seeds on the island of Martinique in 1720. From there, coffee production spread throughout the Caribbean, notably to Santo Domingo and Mexico.
The origins of coffee in Colombia
Historians generally agree that coffee was introduced to Colombia by Jesuit missionaries during the first half of the 18th century, likely shortly after de Clieu’s successful efforts.
The oldest written account of coffee’s origins in Colombia is attributed to Jesuit missionary José Gumilla. In his book ‘El Orinoco Ilustrado’, published in 1730, Gumilla recounts the presence of coffee at the Jesuit mission of Santa Teresa de Tabajé, located near the confluence of the Meta and Orinoco rivers, in the Llanos Orientales region, on the present-day border between Venezuela and Colombia.
From there, coffee gradually spread throughout eastern Colombia and the eastern Andean region of the country. In a 1787 report by Antonio Caballero y Góngora, then Archbishop of Bogota and Viceroy of New Granada (the Spanish colonial province encompassing modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Panama), coffee production is mentioned in the Santander and Boyaca departments, specifically the Giron and Muzo municipalities.
An overiew of coffee production in Colombia
The boom in coffee production in Colombia dates back to the early 19th century. According to legend, in 1834, Francisco Romero, a priest from Norte de Santander, assigned the sowing of coffee plants as penance to his parishioners. This initiative was soon imitated by other priests across Colombia, leading to the rapid expansion of coffee cultivation throughout the country and culminating in Colombia’s first coffee export in 1835 (to Venezuela). While embellished over time, the legend reflects the historical role of the Catholic Church in the spread and development of coffee culture in Colombia.
During an initial phase from the 19th century to the 1910s, coffee production in Colombia was monopolized by the departments of Santander and Cundinamarca, which accounted for 80 percent of national production during this period. After the devastating Thousand Days’ War, which ravaged the eastern part of the country, these regions lost their dominance in coffee cultivation to the Antioquia department and the Coffee Axis (Caldas, Risaralda, Quindío, and Tolima).
Today, coffee cultivation is widespread across Colombia, with the Coffee Axis, the departments of Huila, Antioquia and Cauca leading national production. From its humble origins, it has since turned into one of Colombia’s most profitable industry, with coffee growers reporting over $4 billion in revenues last year.
The keys to success
Colombia has fully embraced coffee cultivation, ranking among the top three global producers and exporters of coffee and the second-largest producer of Arabica beans. This success is linked to institutional support, with both the Catholic Church and the Colombian state playing important roles in the industry’s development. For instance, Colombia was one of the first countries to officially brand coffee as a national product. In 1932, President Enrique Olaya Herrera (1930-1934) decreed that “Café de Colombia” be inscribed on every exported sack of coffee.
The thriving coffee industry was also linked to the early organization of Colombia’s business and private sector. Carlos Eduardo Pinzón Posada, known as “El Rey del Café” (the Coffee King), pioneered Colombian coffee exports to the U.S., accounting for up to 40 percent of the country’s global coffee exports during the first decades of the 20th century.
The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation was created two years after his death, in 1927, to unite the national coffee industry and develop a joint export strategy. The creation of the fictional character Juan Valdez in 1960 accelerated the global expansion of Colombian coffee, allowing it to progressively conquer North American, European, and even Asian markets, with a presence spanning over 16 countries.
The “Café de Colombia” designation of origin is now recognized globally. The country’s organization around this industry has promoted its high quality with Colombian Arabica beans, whether small or large, with red or yellow fruit, being recognized as among the best in the world.