Learn the history of Colombian coffee and how we managed to produce one the best coffees in the world.
In this article of Medellin Day Trips, we talk about how coffee plantations in Colombia have become one of the main resources for our farmers.
The Origin Of Colombian Coffee:
There is not certainty about how or when the coffee seeds arrived in La Nueva Granada (now known as Colombia). However, the historians say the Jesuits brought it around 1730.
Tradition says that a traveler from the Guyana who was passing through Venezuela, brought the coffee seeds.
But there is a second theory confirming that there were coffee seeds in the North-Eastern part of the country.
A priest is attributed to have helped the coffee propagation in Colombia. After confession, farmers were requested to grow coffee as penitence for their sins.
Coffee Production and Exports Boom
The first exportation of green coffee from Colombia ocurred in 1835 with more than 2,560 coffee bags.
It was until 1850 that coffee first arrived in the estate of Caldas which is now known as “the coffee region”.
Colombia became an important player in the international coffee market in the second half of the 19th century.
Back then, the United States were considered the most important market in the Americas while France and Germany in Europe.
With the booming of international markets rising up, the landowners in Colombia started to exploit their lands more agressively. Soon, farmers sold tobacco, coffee, leather and even live cattle.
During this period, the Colombian coffee production went from 60,000 bags to 600,000 bags in less than 30 years.
Unfortunately, the production of these sectors went down when the international markets crashed, bringing a true industrial consolidation to the ground .
The international prices decline along with the Thousand-Day-War, seriously affected the main coffee producers in Colombia. This made it impossible for them to maintain their coffee plantations in good conditions.
The crisis that affected the large estates, brought with it one of the most significant changes in the Colombian coffee industry.
The History Of Colombian Coffee: Small Coffee Producers On The Map
Unlike some other agricultural products, coffee plantations in Colombia are owned by small producers.
This is possible thanks to a new model where coffee exportation is based on the rural economy.
Both the expansion of this new coffee model and the crisis that affected the larger estates, allowed Antioquia and Caldas to take the lead in the development of the coffee industry in the country.
In the past, farmers growing produce other than coffee needed to clear the land completely by burning and starting afresh.
This was very time consuming and would keep the land unproductive for months while taking a toll on the farmer´s income.
When they heard that coffee plantations had no technical requirements and that pre-existing crops didn´t need any clearance, the idea of having a steady production was enough to make the transition.
It is important to note that growing coffee in small farms, has contributed to quality control, ensuring the top quality that characterizes the Colombian coffee worldwide. Thanks to this initiative, Colombia was consolidated as the second largest producer of coffee in the world.
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In case you want to visit the coffee region in Antioquia (South West) we invite to take the Coffee Plantation Trip to Jardin with us.
