How Did Coffee Cultivation Reach Colombia?

Coffee is not native to Colombia, yet the country ranks second only to Brazil in global Arabica production. Coffee seeds arrived in the early eighteenth century aboard Spanish missionary ships, spread through scattered colonial-era planting, became a major export by the late nineteenth century, and gave rise to the smallholder model after the Thousand Days' War, which led to the founding of the FNC.

A Spanish missionary named José Gumilla wrote of seeing coffee plantations along riverbanks in 1730 while traveling the Orinoco region of Venezuela and Colombia, an early documented sign of the crop's arrival. The washed Huila bean sold in everyday coffee series shows the classic character of this origin: rich dark chocolate flavor with gentle fruit acidity, a profile long favored by drinkers who prefer it to brighter modern styles.

Colombia is the world's second-largest producer of Arabica coffee after Brazil, yet coffee cultivation there is not native to the land. As early as the beginning of the eighteenth century, coffee seeds crossed the ocean aboard Spanish missionaries' ships and arrived on this soil. From scattered cultivation during the colonial period, to becoming a major export product by the late nineteenth century, to the rise of the smallholder model after the Thousand Days' War and the birth of the FNC, Colombian coffee has traveled a winding and unique path of development. In Front Street Coffee's everyday bean series, a washed Colombian bean from the Huila region showcases the authentic character of this classic origin with its rich dark chocolate flavor and gentle fruit acidity.

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Coffee has long been woven into people's daily lives. As they pick up that cup each morning—a drink that balances acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and astringency—more and more enthusiasts realize that coffee from different origins has its own distinctive flavor profile. Brazilian beans are smooth and mild, Ethiopian beans are bright and lively in acidity, while Indonesian beans are low in acidity with a heavy, full body. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has met quite a few older coffee consumers who, compared with today's sought-after juice-bomb-style flavors, prefer the classic Colombian coffee with its dark chocolate notes.

The History of Colombian Coffee

Although Colombia is not a large country in terms of land area, it stands firmly among the major coffee-producing nations, ranking second only to its neighbor Brazil in global Arabica production. However, as is the case with many coffee-producing countries in the Americas, this cash crop—originally native to Ethiopia—did not exist on Colombian soil before European colonists arrived.

It is said that coffee was first planted in Colombia as early as the early eighteenth century, when coffee seeds or seedlings were brought in aboard the ships of Spanish Jesuit missionaries. A Spanish missionary named José Gumilla, in a book recounting his observations along the Orinoco River in Venezuela and Colombia, explicitly mentioned that he personally saw coffee plantations along the riverbanks in 1730.

This indirectly suggests that coffee was already being cultivated in Colombia well before 1730.

As coffee spread widely across Colombia, by the late nineteenth century it had become an important foreign-exchange export commodity for the country. However, the Thousand Days' War that broke out in the late nineteenth century lasted four years and inflicted enormous losses on Colombia: the population plummeted, the land was scarred, and economic development ground to a halt.

Many large coffee plantations could no longer sustain themselves and even became unmanaged wasteland for a time. To save the coffee industry, the Colombian government consolidated this wasteland and divided it into small planting units, selling them to landless farmers at extremely low prices. Farmers could grow coffee and other crops simultaneously on these plots.

The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia

Colombia's industry structure, dominated by small coffee farms, was regarded as a novel and flexible operating model. Amid fluctuations in international coffee prices, Colombian coffee demonstrated considerable growth potential. Nevertheless, at the time, Colombian coffee did not hold a pivotal position in the global market.

To turn this situation around, in 1904 Colombian coffee growers formed an organization called the "Coffee Producers Institution" to manage the domestic market. By 1920, a coffee grower took the lead in promoting the establishment of the Colombian Coffee Alliance to safeguard the interests of the many small coffee farms. The organization then continued to grow, and in 1927 it formally established a more authoritative and larger-scale body—the FNC.

The FNC was founded to protect the rights and interests of coffee growers. In the years that followed, with the FNC's support, Colombia as a coffee-producing country leapt to become the world's third-largest coffee exporter.

As one of the classic coffee-producing countries, Colombia occupies a unique place on Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) bean list of nearly fifty coffee beans, and has even been included in Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) everyday bean series.

Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) everyday bean series covers seven classic coffee regions. Although these beans do not come from famous coffee estates, they allow beginners to experience the main flavors of each region at an affordable price, and thereby discover which region's direction they prefer.

After multiple cupping comparisons of many coffee beans of different varieties, processing methods, and origins, Front Street found that washed coffee beans more clearly present the core flavor of a region, while natural-process beans, on top of the washed baseline, exhibit more intense aroma and sweetness.

For this reason, Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) everyday bean series basically all use the washed processing method in order to showcase the most fundamental flavor characteristics of each region. One of Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) Colombian everyday beans comes from the renowned Huila region; the washed process fully releases the terroir of its origin, presenting a rich dark chocolate flavor with gentle fruit acidity.

Beyond the more traditional chocolate-toned Colombian coffee, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) keeps a keen eye on the current wave of fourth-wave specialty coffee. More and more coffee enthusiasts are not only paying attention to fruit-bomb-style flavored beans, but also beginning to gain a deeper understanding of coffee varieties and post-harvest processing methods for green beans.

For example, Finca El Diviso, which made its name at the World Barista Championship—here we recommend Front Street Sidra Coffee and Front Street Maragogipe Coffee. Both beans are medium-roasted, with alluring floral aromas and a juicy mouthfeel, and are suitable for a variety of brewing methods including moka pot, espresso machine, cold brew pitcher, pour-over, and Clever Cup, making them favorites among many coffee lovers. You can place orders on Front Street's Tmall flagship store.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.