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Colombia as a coffee origin
In the 16th century, Jesuit missionaries first brought coffee beans to the country of Colombia. The volcanic soil of the Andes Mountains, along with the mild temperatures and abundant rainfall of the Colombian topography, provided ideal growing conditions, enabling the coffee plants to flourish.
Today, coffee trees are cultivated on small farms that spread over 900,000 hectares of mostly shaded mountainous areas, carefully tended by more than 500,000 independent coffee growers, known in Colombia as cafeteros, and their families. Colombian Coffee grows at altitudes ranging from 3,000 to 6,500 feet (1,000 to 2,000 meters), accounting for the coffee’s well-known acidity. The average temperature in these areas is 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) and rainfall is generous, accumulating to approximately 95 inches per year.
Currently, Colombia is the number one exporter of mild coffee, providing 28% of the world’s washed arabica green coffee. Colombia also exports roasted, spray, freeze-dried and liquid extract coffee, allowing for wider spectrum of product possibilities.
Coffee is harvested throughout the year in Colombia, with a principal crop between October and December, and a secondary crop between April and May. Unique to Colombia, this production cycle ensures that there is a fresh supply of Colombian Coffee available to roasters, distributors and consumers year-round.
Once the coffee berries have ripened to a deep red, they are ready to be handpicked by the careful hands of a Colombian cafeteros. Since berries ripen on the same tree at different rates, they must be picked individually. Therefore, the cafeteros must laboriously return to the same tree eight times, on average, before all its beans are harvested. While still on the farm, coffee cherries are then de-pulped and washed. The beans are carefully dried in the sun or in modern drying machines.
All coffee exported from Colombia is washed, enhancing the coffee’s delicate aroma and flavor. After passing rigorous quality inspection routinely performed at mills and ports, the coffee is shipped to consumers around the globe.
Only the finest coffee beans are allowed to leave the shores of Colombia. It is the responsibility of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia to set and uphold quality standards and to oversee all aspects of promoting Colombian Coffee to discerning consumers around the world.
The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia
In 1927, Colombian Coffee growers formed the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia as a non-profit organization. The Federation’s goal is to help the Colombian Coffee Growers develop agronomic expertise, improve their living conditions and promote Colombian Coffee to the world. Over seventy years later, the Federation continues to fulfill its mission, protecting growers from devastating price declines in the world coffee market via the Coffee Fund, administering social services to populations in coffee-growing areas, designing and supporting coffee quality programs and research, and promoting global marketing activities like the "100% Colombian Coffee Program."
Today, over 500,000 Colombian Coffee growers have an active voice in their destiny through the democratic organization that has evolved into the Federation, as we know it today. In the most recent election, 75% of the cafeteros voted to elect the Federation’s representatives, demonstrating the true democratic nature of the organization.
One of the most important responsibilities of the Federation to the coffee growers is the administration of the Coffee Fund. The Coffee Fund is supported directly by the growers and indirectly by consumers of Colombian Coffee with special contributions levied on coffee exports. Under Colombian legislation, resources derived from these contributions must be reinvested for the benefit of the coffee growers and development of the coffee industry. The Coffee Fund protects the grower by providing valuable income stabilization via the domestic minimum support price. For instance, when prices of Colombian Coffee in the international market (Colombian International Price) plummeted in the early 1990’s, the Coffee Fund’s resources guaranteed that growers received the Domestic Minimum Price for their crop, thus covering the $1.5 billion shortfall and shielding them from potentially devastating effects.
Extremely important is the Coffee Fund’s investment in valuable social services, which have benefited more than 3.5 million people in 1997 alone. Federation-funded social programs include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
Education
Coffee funded programs have built over 6,000 schools with 17,000 classrooms, accommodating up to 360,000 children. In addition, it has constructed about 5,000 housing facilities for teachers. As a result, almost 80% of households in coffee-growing areas have access to a local primary school and levels of literacy in these regions significantly exceed the national average.
Healthcare
In the coffee growing regions, parents and children have access to improved health services. The Federation has built more than 180 clinics and 200 rural health centers and sponsors mass vaccination campaigns for children. Overall, there has been enormous success in disease prevention and an increase in the health of the Colombian people.
Electrification, Telephone and Waterworks
The re-investment program has brought electricity to over 200,000 rural homes, dramatically improved telephone systems, constructed community drainage systems and built 5,000 rural aqueducts. These improvements have greatly enhanced the quality of daily life for numerous families.
Transportation
The Federation’s resources have constructed, maintained and paved over 7,000 miles of roadways and built 2,500 bridges, helping to facilitate transport of coffee to market and improving means of everyday transportation.
To achieve it’s goals, the Coffee Fund has also invested in a network of private businesses that provide the cafeteros with the resources necessary to support the marketing of Colombian Coffee. The Federation’s association with these businesses testifies to the uniqueness of the organization and Colombia’s long-term commitment to the coffee industry. These business alliances further attest to the importance of the coffee industry to Colombia’s economy and social structure by offering the following services to the cafeteros:
The Coffee Quality Office and Cenicafé
The Federation is committed to pursuing a total quality program in which the responsibility to protect and promote coffee quality is shared by both Colombian Coffee growers and Colombian Coffee institutions. To promote a quality distinction from other origins, the Federation has developed comprehensive programs to set, maintain, and monitor minimum quality standards for coffee exported both by the Federation and by independent exporters, as well as to promote excellence at every stage of the production and processing of Colombian Coffee.
The Coffee Quality Office
The Coffee Quality Office in Bogot&acaute; is entrusted with establishing mechanisms and adopting procedures to manage the commercialization of parchment coffee in the internal market and excelso coffee in the export market. It conducts ongoing comprehensive quality reviews in 25 laboratory locations throughout the coffee-growing regions and at each of the three main ports. In order to receive approval for export, Colombian Coffee must meet minimum quality standards in seven categories:
After testing, reference samples are kept for up to six months following shipment. Colombia maintains and welcomes dialogue with roasters in order to detect and investigate any quality problems that may arise.
The National Center for Coffee Research (Cenicafé)
Cenicafé is the Federation’s coffee research facility, located in Chinchin´, in the Department of Caldas. Created in 1938, it was the first research center to be exclusively devoted to exploration and development of coffee science and technology. Today, Cenicafé is a recognized leader in bringing the latest cultivation, harvesting, post-production, processing, disease, pest control and agro-ecology techniques to the coffee world. Cenicafé’s research maintains the same excellence in quality that pervades all the Federation’s efforts.
Cenicafé employs over 100 dedicated scientists and chemists. These state-of-the-art facilities include research laboratories for agricultural and industrial chemistry, biology and entomology, and an extensive coffee research library and documentation center with 160 fiber optic computers. Cenicafé also maintains experimental farms and monitors 200 meteorological stations.
The data and benefits of Cenicafé’s work are brought directly to Colombian Coffee growers by over 800 trained agronomists and technicians working directly with them in the field. Breakthrough research projects pursued by Cenicafé include:
Commercial Activity in North America
The Federation has established satellite offices in North America, Europe (Brussels) and Asia (Tokyo) to serve the unique commercial needs of those markets. In North America, the Colombian Coffee Federation, Inc. operates out of New York, NY, coordinating the marketing of both green and soluble coffee from Colombia to customers in the United States and Canada.
The 100% Colombian Coffee Program is managed in conjunction with roaster partners through the administration of contract agreements, each of which is a prerequisite for the next:
In 1959, the Federation began development of what today is an extensive, multi-dimensional advertising program supporting consumer recognition and demand for 100% Colombian Coffee Program brands. The marketing strategy behind the advertising program is to support premium product price with premium product image, maintain a loyal customer base for 100% Colombian Coffee Program brands, and teach consumers to select those brands by looking for the 100% Colombian Coffee quality trademarks. The "look for the logo" advertising message is the final extension of Colombia’s commitment to the total quality program and brings the message to the consumer level.
Over the years, Colombia has lent its support to such prestigious sporting events as the US Open Tennis Championships, the Canada Open Tennis Championships, the New York City Marathon, the Alpine Ski World Cup and the World and European Figure Skating Championships. It also has established prestigious associated alliances with companies such as Disney World and Disneyland, American Airlines and Venice-Simplon Orient Express.
The Federation has also developed an internet website, located at "www.juanvaldez.com," for consumers to access information about 100% Colombian Coffee including its history, official Promotional Program brands, advertising and fun coffee facts. The Federation’s other website, "www.cafedecolombia.com," is monitored by the office in Bogot´ and provides more technical information to the trade.
Colombia’s marketing strategy is unique in that it is the first program to promote an origin, rather than a brand. It is this concept that has ultimately led the Federation to marketing opportunities outside of the traditional commercial segments, including specialty coffee, freeze-dried and liquid extract products. These 100% Colombian Coffee products are exported and merchandised at a global level.
Specialty Coffee
To better support the growing demand for Colombian Specialty Coffee, Colombian Coffee Federation, Inc. has become active in sponsoring marketing activities for Specialty roasters and retailers in cooperation with the Specialty Coffee Association of America. Colombia’s diverse topography allows for numerous forms of differentiation in the specialty coffee market. In Colombia, the Federation is pursuing the development of unique Colombian specialty coffees through detailed research into the effect of microclimates on cup quality, and is encouraging coffee growers to participate in developing fine Colombian estate coffees.
Freeze-dried and Liquid extract
To serve the needs of soluble coffee customers, the Colombian Coffee Federation, Inc. offers 100% Colombian freeze-dried and liquid extract coffee produced in the Federation’s own state of the art facility located in Chinchin´, Caldas.
Colombia continues its vigilant commitment to increasing the quality of life of the cafeteros by upholding its coffee traditions and maintaining solid relationships with its consumers and customers. The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia continues its dialogue with all channels of trade, working to provide only the finest, quality-insured, Colombian Coffee to the world’s discerning coffee drinkers.
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