Colombia: Land of horrible coffee

John not sure where you went for your coffee. I live part time in Medellin and have no problem finding a great cup. Just visit any of the Juan Valdez coffee shops. Same for Bogota.

I lived in Europe for 2 years and have been to Asia many times. IMHO the best coffee by far is from Colombia, and that includes enjoying a cup sitting outside one of the many local Medellin restaurants.

You are right. I am Colombian and my family is addicted to coffee. However, we struggle to find a good cup of coffee outside home. I have a french press at work because I can't stand the taste of the re-heated coffee in my office. Coffee in most restaurants is poor quality or bad taste. Some even serve Nescafé rather than a fresh filtered coffee.

Countries like the United States are the reason Columbia and other countries in South and Latin America have terrible coffee. Programs like NAFTA force these developing nations to export almost all of their high quality coffee beans for low prices. Obviously America has great coffee because we take all the beans from the countries that grow it. America floods the market of countries like Columbia with cheap, low quality coffee, oftentimes instant coffee, so that the coffee growers themselves cannot compete. this forces them to export all of their beans to 1st world nations because the price at which they can sell to America (which is already low) is higher than the price they can get at home. Columbians cannot afford to drink the coffee from the beans that they pick themselves.

I can't understand how you say "Colombia: Land of horrible coffe" when in the states coffe is like dirty water. If you want to have a great cup of real coffe go to Italia or Spain.

So right you are. Went to Costa Rica a few months ago and was shocked at the coffee I was served even in the best hotels. Mostly because I buy Costa Rican coffee here in Canada and it's excellent.

Went to local markets and most of the coffee I could find was ground with sugar already added.

Actually had to get a referral to a shop owner who roasts/grinds (and mixes with sugar and something else...didn't want to ask) his own coffee to find some green beans that I took back home. Those, once roasted to my liking, were absolutely amazing.

Really sad that often (and not just for coffee) locals get whatever is left of local crops after importers get their pick. Same here for Canadian East-coast seafood. All the best quality products go to Japan.

Great post - Just subscriped to your RSS feed..Thanks

American, that is: USA-coffee is as undrinkable as the Colombian one. It may come in infinite and idiot varieties in e.g. Starbucks, but that does not hide the qualitative truth.

Places that produce consumables often market the best locally-available types as "export quality." That's because the good stuff is shipped abroad.

Sad, but like we said in Colombia, "en casa de herrero cuchillo de palo" (I think there is not a logic translation for this). By the way, the best Colombian Coffee is now in America. From San Vicente del Caguan, Caqueta. Buenavista Coffee in Columbus Ohio. The best of the coffee grown at the hills of the Amazonic "piedemonte"... a grateful experience of flavor and taste...

I am Colombian and currently live in the US. I agree with this article in that there is really no coffee consumer culture in Colombia. The fact that we produce good coffee does not make the average citizen a coffee connoisseur. In my visits to Colombia I struggle to find good coffee, even the one found at the Juan Valdez coffee shops, besides being overpriced, is either of low quality or not prepared correctly. Not to mention the horrible instantaneous coffee Nescafé, which is widely popular.

Colombia is a land of great Coffee, and I disagree with the Post that argues that Colombians don’t drink great coffee. I think what the author does not understand is that a Colombian “tinto” is neither an espresso, nor a French style café. I agree that a tinto may be made with second or third quality coffee but as long as it has a good aroma and a smooth taste that’s all what matters. For us Colombians, a tinto is not the Starbucks coffee of the day. We love our tinto because besides its exquisite aroma (which is not the aroma of the store but that of the beverage), we can drink many of them without risking any immediate side effects. I remember when once a former president of the Federacion de Cafeteros stated in an interview that he usually took 72 tintos a day. I should say that in my family no one was surprised for his confession since “un tinto, es un tinto.”
Coffee for Americans plays a different role. A friend of mine from Tennessee once told me in NYC: “in the US we drink coffee for a purpose.” Also other friends from university life explained that coffee was for them a "tool" in their preparation for work. “We drink coffee before studying, working or running.” Also at my office in NYC my colleagues first daily expression is usually “I need a coffee!” right after they sit on their desks. I always wondered why do they need a coffee? Then I realized that while Americans need a coffee the bust their levels of energy in Colombia coffee’s only purpose is that of socializing. We don’t need coffee in order to inject caffeine into our systems so we can be more productive when studying, running or working. We need a tinto when we need to talk to somebody. This reminds me of an all ad from the Federacion: “Tomemonos un tinto, seamos amigos!”
I agree that many ventas de tinto in Colombia sell burnt coffee, and coffee of bad quality. However, I can assert that even stores that sell good coffee in the US or Europe also sell bad quality burnt coffee. Even when you order a starbucks coffee of the day you are always at the risk of drinking a burnt coffee. Coffee, whenever it stays in an urn for a long time, burns no matter the quality of the grains.
I agree with your friend from Pasto, that we export our best coffee and use the leftovers for internal consumption. But I also can to tell you that those leftovers (pasilla) make also great coffee, and it is not true that they stay in Colombia. They are also exported. Next time you buy a pound of coffee grains in one of the fancy independent coffee retailers in NYC or London, please, check the sizes of the grains, and their shapes. Then you would notice more sizes than numbers exist, and more shapes than, probably, stars hang on the American sky. This means these stores are selling you what the coffee companies call a “blend,” which for us Colombians who know coffee is nothing but a mixture of pasillas.
In conclusion, I don’t think Colombians drink horrible coffee, I just think Americans and Europeans are used to different types of coffee. I know your “French-culinary” friend will probably disagree but I can contend that there's is nothing worst that a tinto made with French roasted beans.

I would like to add to my earlier post that, for those who still argue that Colombia produces coffee but lacks of a coffee culture, I will challenge them to show me in which other country in the world companies have a “senora de los tintos” as member of their staffs? I haven’t found the first one. I don’t know if people have forgotten that in Colombia the senora de los tintos, as Colombians say, “es toda una insititucion.” I have long pleasant memories of many senoras de los tintos. I remember the senora de los tintos at my father’s office, the one working with his friends at the banks, government offices, etc. I remember being offered a tinto when I visited such banks even to say I was late in paying a loan. I remember when I got my first job right after college being asked by a senora de los tintos right after my job interview: “le provoca tintico?” They have senoras de los tintos at a worker’s union I used to visit when working for the government. Even in the Colombian army barracks, where ladies are scarce, they had them. I remember going with my dad to visit his friend, a colonel, and right after seating in front of his desk having this very “automatic,” skinny lady appearing from some room next door with a tray, a thermos and three cups (because in Colombia children also drink tinto) which she filled with a precision and elegance not seen often anywhere. The senoras de los tintos were, and sure still are (perhaps under the new horrible name “servicios generales,”) in many of Colombia’s prosperous companies and government offices. If there is still a doubt, readers should stop at any office and pretend they will become customers of such office. Surely the senora de los tintos will appear.
Also, for those who don’t believe in the existence of Colombia’s coffee culture: it was not long ago that a good percentage of the adult population of Colombia had “cedulas cafeteras,” which they used to vote in the elecciones cafeteras. Hundreds of thousands of people leaving in the Colombian Andes had them. It just take a traveler to jump out of his car into a peasant house in any of the Andean roads of Colombia and (surprise! After being offered a tintico) ask if some one has a cedula cafetera y for sure at least one member of the family will produce one. I know the country has changed but not enough to forget the many basketball courts, bridges, schools, health posts, etc. that receive today people with a big plate in their facades: “Construida por el Comite de Cafeteros de... (state).” They were build as a result of the democracia cafetera, elections that took place in coffee areas with the goal of asking people to vote for delegates and projects that re-distributed the earnings from the coffee business.

Hi John: i was reading your article, than left me dissatisfied, because you say the colombia coffee in colombia no is very good, in all parts of the globe you found bad things and good things od the native productos, by any chance i have eating disgusting pomkin pie,mash potatoes,sweet potatoes pure and also many others foods , is more, in unitate states in the regular restaurant or caffeteria we eat terrible.
In Colombia we eat very, very good,as regards coffee, the best you found in the best places but at any regular cafeteria no, perhaps you drink no to good coffee in any where, you don't know than Colombia has 32 departaments (states) each one is diferent in meals preparations, the diferences are big, so no is the same drink coffee in Popayan than in Medellin, o Bogota or inclusive in Cartagena or Barranquilla.
Si my friens John Otis, first the all we have to know the country with the differents contrast such happen in Colombia, each departament is like a different country in all, of course at the end all we are colombians.

Mr. John,
You are right about the many options available to substitute coffee in Colombia. If you are from Europe it is perfectly understood that you have doubts about the coffee prepared in Colombia, but if you live in US I wonder how you got the good taste for coffee. Are you comparing against those places where a cup of coffee costs $3 or $4 dollars? You may notice that a cup of coffee in Colombia is given for free or a very low price, and the economy does not allow to have a espresso machines in every corner to sell it for US$5 like in Europe. What are you used to drink also? Germans criticize the Italian preparation and vice versa, because simply is prepared different. I still prefer the coffee with "panela" and the "tinto" cup size, rather than of a mug size with walnut, caramel or vanilla flavors.

When Starbucks opened in Mexico City, coffee was a beverage most well-heeled city dwellers, its targeted demographic,didn't generally imbibe. Fashionistas,hipsters and young gringo wannabes bought the arriviste drink helping to turn it into a luxury commodity for the discerning. On the other hand, China, with its tea-centric public, embraced the arrival of coffee in the 1980s. So much so that it now grows the Robusta bean in 6 provinces to meet demand at home as well to export.

Yes, it can apply for Bogotá, Popayán, Pasto and La Costa, but it does not apply for Medellín, Antioquia, Quindío, Risaralda, Caldas, Santander, Valle del Cauca North and Tolima where you can find a good cup of Colombian coffee. The worst coffee of the world is served in Tel Aviv.