History of Colombian Coffee

Coffee was first introduced to Colombia around thebags, and are currently around 11,000,000 bags per
same time Jesuit priests first began arriving fromyear.
Europe in the mid 16th century. The leaders ofVietnam has recently taken over from Colombia as
Colombia tried to encouraged people to grow coffee,the world's second largest coffee producing country
but they met with resistance. Worried that acoffeebut Colombia's coffee still remains some of the best
tree takes five years to provide its first crop, theyand most well known throughout the world. This is
wondered how they were going to survive during thislargely due to the very successful marketingcampaign
period?created by the National Federation of Colombian
A priest in a small village named Francisco RomeroCoffee Growers in 1959. They introduced the world to
had an idea, instead of the usual penance atthe fictitious character Juan Valdez. 85% of
confession, he told them to plant 3 or 4 coffee trees.Americans still associate Juan Valdez with Colombian
The Archbishop of Colombia ordered everyone to useCoffee.
this penance thinking it was an excellent idea and itColombian coffee is grown at high altitudes and
became the general practice. This started Colombia astended to with care inter cropped in the shade of
the worlds second largest coffee producing countrybanana and rubber trees. Colombian coffee is known
built on the penance of its forefathers.to be among the best in the world, with a rich,
Colombia began exporting coffee and in 1835full-bodied, and perfectly balanced taste. The rich
exported around 2500 bags to the U.S. By 1875volcanic soil in the arid mountains of Colombia produce
Colombia was now exporting 170,000 bags to U.S. andideal conditions for growing high quality coffee.
Europe. In 1992 exports of coffee topped at 17,000,000