Coffee History - Guatemalan Coffees

The History of Coffee in Guatemala

For over 200 years, coffee has been a very important part of Guatemala's economy. Today, Guatemala is one of the leading exporters of coffee in the world.

Jesuit Priests introduced a coffee plant in Antigua, Guatemala, in 1760, with the purpose of using it as ornaments for their gardens. Forty years later, Don Juan Rubio y Gemir cultivated the first plants of coffee in the outskirts of the city. Since that year, all the coffee plantations were supported by the 'Real Order' (Spain).

Guatemala signed their Independence in September 1821. The new government in charge wanted to increase the productivity potential of all the fields. They established agreements to support the coffee plantations like 'Decreto 1ro. de octubre' (October 1st, decree), it said that 'We will give two hundred pesos to the first farmer who produces 10,000 pounds of coffee, one hundred pesos to the second, third and fourth Farmer'. Since 1871, the coffee business became the number one export for Guatemala's economy.

Coffee Timeline

Mid 1700s

Jesuit priests bring the first coffee plants to the colonial city of Antigua, as ornamental plants for the gardens in their monastery.

1800

Locusts devastate indigo plantations, wiping out one of two export crops on which the economy depends, forcing the government to seek new export possibilities.

1835

Government offers prizes to the first four farmers who harvest 20,000 pounds of coffee.

1850

Government offers incentives to plant coffee when invention of synthetic dyes demolished Guatemala's remaining source of foreign exchange.

1859

First commercial coffee production: 383 60-kilo bags-almost all sent to Europe.

1860

Production triples to 1,117 bags and the Guatemalan coffee industry takes off .

1867

Guatemalan coffee participates in its first international event: The International Exhibition in Paris.

1868

Government gives out one million seeding's to small farmers to stimulate production. It begins a program to modernize the ports and to build roads and a railroad to get the coffee there on time.

1872

José Guardiola revolutionizes coffee processing around the world. His machine allows farmers to dry coffee in a controlled environment. Known over the world as a Guardiola dryer, it is the most popular in use today.

1880s

Coffee has become Guatemala's most important export crop, accounting for over 80% of the total value of its exports.

1880

Julio Smout's hulling machine replaces the primitive mortar and pestle technique used to remove the parchment from the bean. His design has been known ever since as the "Smout type of huller". Julio Smout's hulling machine replaces the primitive mortar and pestle technique used to remove the parchment from the bean. His design has been known ever since as the "Smout type of huller".

1888

Guatemalan coffee takes first prize at the World Fair in Paris.

1902

Massive volcanic eruption in western Guatemala buries entire farms in ash and sand, and coffee exports are slashed by 75%. It takes two decades for the affected areas to recover. However, other regions get a mineral boost from the drifting ash. Farms in Antigua obtain record-breaking crops in the five years following the eruption.

1910

By adding the feature of a polisher to Smout's design, Roberto Okrassa invents a new huller that becomes known throughout the world by his name.

1910

Eduardo Cabarrus and Federico Lehnohoff invent and patent the formula for soluble coffee, which remains unimproved ninety years later.

1915

First prize in the San Francisco Exhibition.

1929

Great Depression : As markets dry up, coffee exports contract for the first time.

1940

World War II With European markets cut off, coffee exports drop, rebounding after the war.

1955

Imrich Fischmann presents the world of nurseries with the elegantly simple idea of a perforated, plastic seedling bag. His invention not only affects coffee. It transforms the handling, care and transplanting of seedlings around the world.

1960

Anacafé starts as the Central Coffee Office and three years later joins the International Coffee Organization, ICO.

1980s

Demand for specialty coffees brings new excitement to the marketplace. Anacafé actively begins to promote regional coffees.

1989

Coffee quotas are eliminated, ushering in a new age for small countries like Guatemala.

1999

Guatemala exports a record breaking 4.5 million 60-kilo bags of arabica coffee.

2002

Crisis. As world prices plummet, Guatemala faces its most profound coffee crisis in 150 years: exports drop 25% and foreign exchange 59%. For the first time since 1870, coffee is no longer the leading foreign exchange earner. Over 250,000 workers lose their jobs.

2003

Guatemalan Coffees® goes International, now being distributed in the US and Europe, at www.guatemalan-coffees.com

A roasted coffee bean can be recognized by just about everybody, but unless you have visited a coffee growing country, you might not recognize an actual coffee tree. Pruned short in cultivation, but capable of growing more than 30 feet high, a coffee tree is covered with dark-green, waxy leaves growing opposite each other in pairs.

Coffee cherries grow along the tree's branches. It takes nearly a year for a cherry to mature after the flowering of the fragrant, white blossoms. Because it grows in a continuous cycle, it is not unusual to see flowers, green fruit and ripe fruit simultaneously on a single tree. The trees can live as long as 20 - 30 years and are capable of growing in a wide range of climates, as long as there is no harsh fluctuation in temperature. Optimally, they prefer a rich soil and mild temperatures, with frequent rain and shaded sun.

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