Historical data indicates that the Jesuits brought small seeds with them at around 1730, but there are different versions of this. Tradition says that the seeds of coffee came from the east of the country, brought by a traveller from the Guyana who passed through Venezuela until reaching Colombia. The oldest written testimony of the presence of coffee in Colombia is attributed to a Jesuit priest, José Gumilla. In his book "The Orinoco Illustrated" (1730) he registered the presence of coffee in the mission of Saint Teresa of Tabajé, near where the Meta river empties into the Orinoco. The second written testimony belongs to the archbishop-viceroy Caballero y Gongora (1787) who registered the presence of the crop in the north east of the country near Giron (Santander) and Muzo (Boyaca), in a report that he provided to the Spanish authorities.

The first coffee crops were planted in the eastern part of the country. In 1835 the first commercial production was registered with 2,560 green coffee bags that were exported from the port of Cucuta, near the border with Venezuela. According to testimonies of the time, the priest Francisco Romero is attributed to be very influential in the propagation of the crop in the north east region of the country. After hearing the confession of the parishioners of the town of Salazar de la Palmas, he requested as penitence the cultivation of coffee. These seeds permitted the presence of coffee in the departments ofSantander and North Santander, with its consequent propagation, since 1850, to the center and western regions, such asCundinamarca, Antioquia, and the historic region of Caldas.