Colombian Coffee is a protected designation of origin granted by the European Union (September 2007) that applies to the coffee produced in Colombia. The Colombian coffee has been recognized worldwide as having high quality and distinctive taste. The main importers of Colombian coffee are United States, Germany, France, Japan, and Italy.
History
Historical data show that the Jesuits coffee seeds brought with them to South America around 1730 CE, but there are several versions. Tradition says that the coffee seeds from a traveler from Guyana, who were brought over by Venezuela before reaching Colombia. The oldest written evidence of the presence of coffee in Colombia is attributed to a Jesuit José Gumilla. In his book, The Illustrated Orinoco (1730), records the presence of coffee in the mission of St. Teresa of Tabaje, near where the river empties into the meta-Orinoco. Further evidence comes from the Archbishop-Viceroy Caballero y Gongora (1787), the presence of the harvest in the northeast of the country near Giron (Santander) and Muzo (Boyaca) in a report he filed with the Spanish authorities .
The first coffee plants were planted in the eastern part of the country. In 1835 the first commercial production was 2560 bags of green coffee were exported from the port of Cucuta, recorded near the border with Venezuela. As a result of a priest named Francisco Romero is very influential in the spread of the crop in the north-east of the country. After hearing the confessions of the parishioners of the town of Salazar de la Palma, it requires the cultivation of coffee as a penance. Coffee was established in the departments of Santander and North Santander, Cundinamarca, Antioquia, Caldas and the historic environment.
