5 Facts About Venezuelan Coffee

If you read my first post, you know that my grandpa first sparked my interest in coffee. He’s from Venezuela and that’s where my roots are, so I was very interested in learning about coffee in Venezuela. Here are 5 fun facts:

1. Coffee was introduced to Venezuela in 1730 by a Jesuit priest Jose Gumilla as he was writing a book about the Orinoco River: a river that is about 76% in Venezuela. There’s evidence of coffee plantations in Venezuela since 1793.
2. From 1830–1855 Venezuela produced ⅓ of the world’s coffee! When the country switched its attention to petroleum, coffee production slowly came to a stop.
3. In 1919, coffee production peaked with 1.37 million bags exported.
4. Venezuela exported most of their coffee to the US.
5. Under Hugo Chavez the government placed regulations on coffee production, so the people relied on imported coffee.

I hope one day I get to visit the country whose culture my family embraces, but I REALLY hope one day my grandpa gets to taste the delicious coffee from his country again.