Colombians are drinking record amounts of coffee, but most of the growth comes from café instantáneo:
Coffee consumption has steadily increased since 2008 in Colombia, and instant coffee sales have jumped by over 150 percent, the second-largest growth rate in the world, according to Euromonitor. Instant is taking up a larger and larger portion of the local Colombian coffee market.
How come? Colombia has been producing and exporting heaps of fine coffee for over a century now, but Colombians haven’t historically been able to afford the quality beans they grow. Most of it has been exported to higher income markets, per Euromonitor.
The tale is not unlike quinoa’s in Peru and Bolivia, where farmers have worked to produce more and more of the newly hip grain, which their fellow countrymen can now scarcely afford. The difference, however, is that in Colombia’s case, the inability to afford strong coffee has stoked the appetite for cheaper and weaker stuff. Without the cash to buy the superior coffee being grown locally, Columbians have embraced milder blends.
(Graph of Colombian coffee consumption via Quartz)
The Dish 