According to Jon Thorn's The Coffee Companion, Columbia contributes about a third of the world's total coffee production, after Brazil and Vietnam. It is also probably one of the most famous varieties of coffee known in North America.
Coffee was first introduced to Columbia in 1808, when coffee trees were brought by a clergyman from the French Antilles via Venezuela. Nowadays, the coffee industry is so important to the Columbian economy that cars crossing the border are sprayed so that they do not bring in disease to the coffee crop.
The coffee producing areas in Columbia lie among the foothills in the Andes, where the climate is temperate and moist. Columbia boasts three different cordilleras (secondary mountain ranges) running through the country in a north-south direction, and it is on these heights that coffee is cultivated.
Columbia is fortunate in that it does not have to worry about frost, as is the case in Brazil. Columbia possesses a number of micro-climates, which means that the harvesting season lasts almost all year. Most of the cultivation uses modern methods and is grown on large plantations. There are only a few small land-holders who make a living growing coffee.
Germany was at one time a large importer of Columbian coffee, as is the United States now. Germany has since turned to cheaper alternatives for its coffee.
One bit of trivia that readers might find interesting is that the famous Columbian Juan Valdez logo of Columbian coffee was created by a man named Doyle Dane Bernbach in March 1959. The image includes the fictional character Juan Valdez, his mule Conchita, and the Columbian mountains in the background.
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