Latin American coffees

Coffee is the second raw material traded in the world, the first being oil. Each year, 7.4 billion kilos are produced in the world. Coffee is an agricultural product, it is sensitive to climate. It is cultivated close to the equatorbetween the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. The coffee producers are then in Asia, Africa and Latin America which is the region that interests us in this article.

A little history...

Coffee is a product associated withLatin Americaeven if it is from Ethiopia. It is afterwards that its production spread in the zones favourable to its cultivation. Indeed, it is in the 18th century that the first coffee plants arrived on the South American continent. In Ethiopia or Yemen, coffee was already known and produced since the 9th century. Coffee first arrived in Brazil in 1720 and then spread to other countries such as Guatemala and Mexico. Finally, coffee arrived in the Andes. It is the turn of Colombia and Peru to start cultivating coffee.

Some figures...

62 % of the world production of coffee comes from South and Central America.

The 1st coffee producer is the Brazil. He alone holds 30% of the world coffee production. This is due to the favourable climate for coffee cultivation and the size of the country. Brazil has 2.5 million hectares devoted to coffee and about 8 million direct and indirect jobs depend on this sector. It is also the first exporting country.

75% of organic coffees sold in the world are from Latin America. The continent is the leader in this part of the coffee market.

9 Latin American countries are among the top 20 coffee producing countries according to Wikipedia. These are Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Costa Rica.

The 2 most famous types of coffee are the robusta and arabica. Arabica coffee is the most widespread and best known, it represents 70% of world production of coffee. Its origins are located in the Arabian Peninsula as its name indicates. However, nowadays, it is cultivated mainly in Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru...) and in Ethiopia. There are several varieties: Bourbon grown in Brazil, Typica coffee present throughout Latin America or Catimorra. The robusta coffee is for him, easier to grow and grows faster. The coffee plant is more robust as its name suggests, it resists better to bad weather and insects. Also, its taste is stronger, full-bodied and bitter. In South America, it is mostly found on the Brazilian lands, representing 20% of the continent's production.

And Peru?

The Peru is one of the top 20 largest exporters of coffee in the world. There are approximately 160'000 They work on areas of between 8 and 10 hectares in most cases, but some have plots of less than 2 hectares. They are therefore small producers, sometimes grouped in cooperatives. The Peruvian coffee is known to be biological , 80% of its plantations are organic and its cultivation is done at a high altitude. The producers pay attention to the traditional and organic cultivation of the coffee to offer a high quality coffee to the consumers.

The cafes Viajero come from the central Peruvian jungle, in Chanchamayo. As already mentioned, a particularity of the coffee of Peru is that it is cultivated in altitude. Our coffee Jungle Coffee Origin is produced at an altitude of 1500 to 2000 meters. The Jungle Coffee Blend is cultivated at 1500 meters as well as the Jungle Coffee. We invite you to discover Peru, in your cup, at home. And why not, discover other specialties of Latin America?