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        Coffee Export Division

El Salvador, Central America

The Origin

There is no exact date or location for the discovery of coffee and its properties.  The origins of the Caffea Arabica is believed to be in the Kaffa mountains in modern Ethiopia many thousands of years ago, but the first documented appearance of coffee in history is in medical documents from the ninth century found in Persia.  Given its stimulant properties, coffee caused debates and prohibitions during centuries in the Middle East.  During its period of expansion, the Ottoman Empire spread the aromatic beverage throughout the central Europe, Spain, northern Africa, and the Balkans.  This beverage, known at this time as "the wine of the Arabia", was reintroduced to Europe during the renaissance period by European explorers who brought it along with other spices and discoveries from their voyages to the middle and far east.

Coffee became so popular in Europe that they repeatedly tried to grow plantations of their own to break the dependency from Arab suppliers.  The Dutch were the first to lay their hands on raw grains and start their own plantations in modern Sri Lanka in 1658.  This was the start of the widespread interest in producing the cherries that yielded such a marvelous infusion.  

Coffee came to the Americas for the first time around the early 1700's when the French, under the rule of Louis XV started their plantations in the Antilles.  A Portuguese officer stole a few beans in French Guiana and started the plantations of what would become the world's leading producer, Brazil.  Coffee later spread through northern South America (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador) and in Central America.

Coffee came to El Salvador in the nineteenth century.  The demand of the grains was so large that it quickly rooted itself as the main crop in the country, replacing Indigo, its predecessor, which was no longer in high demand due to the discovery of colorant substitutes.  At that time, the coffee production fever was so big that even the government issued a decree in which it ordered everyone with land suitable for the production of the cherry to immediately start planting it, abandoning whatever they were producing before.  

Today, worldwide coffee trade reaches more than 15 billion U.S. dollars a year making it the second most valuable commodity behind Crude Oil.  World production of coffee exceeds 6.3 million metric tons.   

Coffee as we know it has been around us for hundreds of years and its properties, sometimes celebrated and sometimes criticized, make it one of the most popular beverages throughout the world.  This section is meant to illustrate to coffee drinkers around the world the passion behind the story, the marvel of its processing, the secrets of a great cup of coffee, and the medical effects on the human body. 

Prepare yourself a good cup of coffee and enjoy! 

Questions? Comments?  Contact our webmaster at: jlgoriani@integra.com.sv

Grupo MG, S.A. de C.V.  ©  2003