Traditions

TRADITIONS:

Most Colombian coffee growers live in small farms whose coffee cultivations plots do not surpass 2 hectares on average. Only slightly more than 5% of Colombian coffee producers have coffee plantations of a size bigger than 5 hectares. The reduced dimensions of their coffee plots have allowed maintaining an essentially family oriented activity to the Colombian coffee growing industry. So, the people of coffee in Colombia believe that the family is their most important priority, and are very interested on protecting and maintaining a strong set of family values.

An exceptional example of a sustainable and productive cultural landscape that is unique and representative of a tradition that is a strong symbol for coffee growing areas worldwide - encompasses six farming landscapes, which include 18 urban centres on the foothills of the western and central ranges of the Cordillera de los Andes in the west of the country. 

It reflects a centennial tradition of coffee growing in small plots in the high forest and the way farmers have adapted cultivation to difficult mountain conditions. The urban areas, mainly situated on the relatively flat tops of hills above sloping coffee fields, are characterized by the architecture of the Antioquian colonization with Spanish influence. Building materials were, and remain in some areas, cob and pleated cane for the walls with clay tiles for the roofs.