Like the origins of coffee in Ethiopia and Yemen, its arrival in Colombia is shrouded in legend and uncertainty. Before the Spanish arrived in 1499, the region was inhabited by skilled agricultural tribes such as the Muisca and Taironas. Over the following thirty years, permanent European settlements were established, and Jesuit priests—after travelling through Guyana and Venezuela—are widely believed to have introduced coffee seeds to Colombia sometime between the mid-1500s and 1730.
Early efforts to promote coffee as a staple crop in eastern Colombia met with hesitation, largely due to the lengthy wait—up to five years—for the first harvest. According to legend, a priest named Francesco Romero encouraged his congregation in Salazar de la Palmas to plant coffee trees as a form of penance. The idea proved successful and was soon adopted by other parishes, helping to lay the foundations for Colombia’s future as a coffee-growing nation.
The first confirmed literary reference to coffee in Colombia appears in José Gumilla’s 1741 book El Orinoco Ilustrado, based on his travels along the Orinoco River in 1730. His detailed account remains an important historical source on the region’s indigenous peoples, flora, and fauna.
