Columbia Coffee History, Climate, Environment, Coffee Flavor

Colombian coffee beans grow at high altitudes and are carefully cared for in the shade of banana and rubber trees.

This kind of coffee is one of the best in the world. Rich, mellow, perfectly balanced. Colombia's arid mountains and well-drained, fertile volcanic soil provide ideal conditions for growing quality coffee.

Coffee in Colombia is mainly grown in two regions: the central region around Medellin, Armenia and Manizares, also known as MAM to favoners, and the mountains near Bogota and Bucamanga in the east.

Colombian coffee has many different smells.

The MAM variety is famous for its full-bodied wine, rich flavor and delicate and balanced acidity, while mountain-grown Oriental coffee beans produce richer, heavier, lower acidity coffee.

The best coffee comes from this area.

The time when the coffee first arrived in Colombia is uncertain. Many historians believe that Jesuit priests first came here from Europe around the mid-16th century. Colombia's first coffee exports began in 1835, when about 2500 bags of coffee were exported to the United States.

Arabica beans don't grow well in Vietnam. Only the rich but inferior Robusta is suitable for the low humid climate of Vietnam. Colombian coffee is far superior to it, and many coffee experts think it is the best coffee in the world.

Any discussion of Colombian coffee is incomplete without mentioning the very successful marketing campaign launched by the National Federation of Colombian Coffee growers in 1959. They introduced the friendly and kind Juan Valdes to the world. Although a fictional character, Juan Valdes, with a shawl and smock, gave the humble coffee picker a face and created a sense of mystery and romance that still exists today.