History of Origin of Coffee beans in Guatemala, 10th Coffee producer in the World COE bidding Information for Guatemala

Guatemalan Coffee: understanding the Origin of your Coffee

Although Guatemala is a relatively small country, it is extremely diversified in all respects. It has one of the most diverse climates in the world, with 21 Mayan dialects and growing coffee with a variety of flavor characteristics. Although this Central American country has experienced a difficult history of political instability and economic destruction from foreign governments, it still has a lot to be proud of. Its Guatemalan coffee is certainly one of them.

The History of Guatemalan Coffee

Coffee saplings arrived in Guatemala in the late 1700s, but because of poor economic conditions, locals were unable to invest quickly in crops and grew slowly at first. By the 1860s, coffee was of great economic significance to the country, mainly because indigo, once the most profitable crop, had lost its popularity with artificial dyes.

Industrial growth continued to rise as dictator Justo Rufino Barrios seized public land around 1870 and reserved it for coffee cultivation. By 1900, Guatemala exported more than 300 million pounds of coffee a year, accounting for 80% of the country's exports.

History of Modern Guatemala Coffee

The Great Depression of the late 1920s and 1930s also affected Guatemala, leading to another dictatorship. Tired of dictators, Guatemala democratically elected their first president in 1940, but he won't last long. In order to protect the economic interests of the United States, President Jacob Albans was overthrown in a coup by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1954 and replaced by. Another dictator. As a result of this intervention, Guatemala experienced a series of civil wars between the 1960s and 1990s.

You may wonder what all this political history has to do with coffee. Trust us, this is very important. All this economic and political back and forth has led to a roller coaster of growth and contraction in the coffee industry. Many coffee farmers were killed in fighting and attacks, infrastructure shut down and the economy could not grow.

The tragedy of the political and economic struggle in Guatemala led to the departure of many people from the coffee industry. It even caused many people to leave the country. Fortunately, however, 20 years of peace has given locals a chance to get back on their feet and prosper again.

Today, Guatemala is the 10th largest coffee producer in the world, second only to Colombia in terms of the proportion of specialty coffee beans produced there. Although farmers still face economic difficulties left over from decades of hardship, local industries are continuing to grow and demand.

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