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HISTORICAL FACTS

Taken from the garden of a Jesuit monastery, coffee was converted by those pioneering producers and revolutionary inventors into the most powerful engine of the economy.  Through boom and bust, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, isolation and  difficulties, it was possible to create a level of quality and regional varieties unparalleled around the world.

Mid 1700s:  A Monegasque start

Jesuit priests bring the first coffee plants to the colonial city of Antigua, as ornamental plants for the gardens of their monastery.

1800:  the year of the plague

Locust plague devastates indigo plantations, wiping out one of the two export crops on which the economy depended, forcing the government to look for possible new exports.

1835:  looking for options

The government offers rewards for the first four farmers to grow 20,000 pounds of coffee.

1850:  international exchange crisis

The invention of synthetic dyes eliminated the second agricultural export product of the time: cochineal, a raw material for natural dyes and internationally traded. The government offers incentives to grow coffee.

1859:  first export

The first commercial production of coffee: 383 bags of 60 kilograms sent to Europe almost in its entirety.

1860:  coffee take off

Production triples to 1,117 bags and Guatemala's coffee industry takes off.

1867:  Ici â Paris

Guatemalan coffee participates in its first international event: The International Exhibition in Paris.

1868:  incentives for coffee

The government provides one million seedlings to small producers in order to stimulate production. A program was started to modernize the ports and build roads and the railway to deliver the product on time.

1872:  Guardiola's revolution

José Guardiola revolutionizes coffee processing around the world. Their machine allows producers to dry coffee in a controlled environment. Known worldwide as the "Guardiola" dryer, it is the most popular currently used.

1880:  coffee at the top

Coffee has become Guatemala's largest export agricultural product, accounting for over 80% of the total value of its exports.

1880:  Smout's tailings

Julio Smout's shelling machine replaces the primitive mortar and grinding technique used to remove parchment from grain. His design has since been known as "Smout's Threshing-Polisher".

1888:  C'est si bon!

Guatemalan coffee occupies the first prize at the World's Fair in Paris.

1902:  The big boom!

A massive volcanic eruption in western Guatemala, burying entire farms in ash and sand. It takes about two decades for affected areas to recover.  Meanwhile, other regions get a boost in minerals from the ash. The farms of Antigua obtain, in the following five years, harvests that break records.

1910:  Okrassa's Triumph

Adding the polisher modality to the Smout design, Roberto Okrassa invents a new pulper that became known worldwide by name.

1910:  Coffee ready!

Eduardo Cabarrus and Federico Lehnhoff invented and patented the instant coffee formula that remains unchanged ninety years later.

1915:  And the winner is...

First prize at the San Francisco exhibition.

1929:  The first of the hard times

Great Depression: As markets fell, coffee exports fell for the first time.

1940:  Exports suspended

World War II blocks European markets and coffee exports fall, resurfacing after the war.

1955:  In the bag

Imrich Fischmann introduces the world of nurseries with the simple and elegant idea of a perforated plastic (seed) bag. His invention doesn't just affect coffee. It transforms the management, care and transplantation of seeds around the world.

1958:  ROASTING GOOD COFFEE

Tostaduría Buen Café is created. Its founder, an ingenious, visionary and enterprising man, personally built the first toaster in the workshops of a friend and was concerned from the beginning with selecting the best coffee beans from the eight regions that produce the best coffee in Guatemala. .

1960:  Producers Union

Anacafé began as the Central Coffee Office and, three years later, joined the International Coffee Organization, OIC.

1980's:  Specializing in specialty

The demand for specialty coffees brings great enthusiasm to the market. Anacafé actively begins to promote regional coffees.

1989:  End of installments

Coffee quotas are eliminated,  facing a new era for small countries like Guatemala.

2002:  Crisis!

As world prices plummet, Guatemala faces its deepest coffee crisis in 150 years: exports fall by 25% and international trade by 59%. For the first time since 1870, coffee is not the leader in generating income from abroad. More than 250,000 workers lose their jobs.

2005:  Prioritizing quality coffee

Despite the crisis, producers continued their struggle to produce quality coffee. Their effort is offset by the strengthening of the most demanding coffee markets, such as the Japanese.  

Bibliographic references:  

* https://www.anacafe.org/glifos/index.php?title=10CON:Historia_del_Cafe#1980's:%C2%A0_Specializing_in_specialty / History of Coffee - Anacafé.

*  The book "Historia del café de Guatemala" is for sale at the Central Offices of Anacafé. It is available in Spanish and English languages. For more information call 2421-3700 extension 1068.