Colombian coffee is often regarded as some of the highest quality coffee in the world. Colombia has traditionally grown Arabica beans and its unique geography makes it perfectly suited for producing a delicious, high quality brew. Colombia’s excellent growing conditions have paired with an aggressive marketing campaign by the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC), which has worked since the late 1950’s to bring Colombia’s coffee sector to the forefront of international attention. Colombia has traditionally been second in global coffee production only to Brazil, but has been set back to third by Vietnam’s recent market entry and rapidly expanding production of Robusta coffees. Over 500,000 farms, most of them small landholdings of 5 hectares or less are scattered across the zonas cafeteras, some of the most biologically diverse landscapes in the world.
Geography and Environment
Colombia is bisected by the Andes Mountains which splits into three parallel cordilleras (mountain ranges) as they run south to north. Much of the nation’ s coffee is grown in this area. The small nation, about three times the size of Montana contains two of South America’s five “biodiversity hotspots”. The Tumbes-Choco hotspot occupies all of Colombia’s coast, while the Tropical Andes hotspot covers nearly all its mountain ranges. In fact, Conservation International calls the Colombian Andes the “richest and most diverse region on earth,” noting that the whole of the tropical Andes chain contains one sixth of the world’s plant species in only one percent of its land area.
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