Chile is famous for its beautiful landscapes, delicious food and drinks, and the enigmatic Easter Island. Chilean wine, pisco, and craft breweries are among the beverages that Chile is known for, and have proven popular with both residents and tourists.
What is it that Chile is NOT well-known for? Coffee.
This may appear strange, especially given that the country is surrounded by some of the world’s highest-producing coffee countries.
But Chile does have some coffee brands worth trying!
By Mila.
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Less Known Chilean Coffee Brands Worth Trying
Although Chile has a list of popular instant coffee brands, these specialty brands below are a bit less known, and totally worth trying.
Have fun!
El Café Circular – Artisan Roast
This Chilean specialty coffee is produced by a team of Chileans. They select beans from different microclimates around the world, that have high-quality, unique flavor profiles and are produced in a more sustainable way.
Then they develop unique roasting curves for each of them, which is their basis for an artisan roasting in Chile.
You can check out their website and purchase their coffee here.
‘We Are Four’ Coffee Brands
‘We Are Four’ is a Chilean store with various specialty coffee brands. This Chilean specialty coffee website is all about high quality coffee.
They have various options such as light roasted, medium roast, extra roasted, variable roast, and more.
They also have coffee machines and tea!
You can check out their website and purchase their coffee here.
Patagonia Blend
This team of specialty coffee lovers roast coffee beans in Punta Arenas, adjusting time and temperature to promote optimal grain development and increase its sensory qualities.
Since 2014, they have had an expert working with them. Eduardo Cárdenas has many SCA CSP Roasting certifications, which helps them create high-quality coffee.
You can check out their website and purchase their coffee here.
The Chilean Coffee History
It is believed that about 50,000 Britons came to Chile between 1840 and 1914.
They brought with them a lot of British practices, including tea drinking.
When it comes to favorite caffeinated or non-caffeinated beverages in Chile, locals prefer tea to coffee.
This tradition was passed down to Chileans and became a part of their culture.
Chile is by far the largest consumer of tea per capita in South America.
Since tea consumption was and continues to be a prevalent custom in Chile, the country has been noted for being a larger user of tea in both South America and the world.
Even today, many people would rather have a nice cup of tea than a cup of coffee, specialty or not.
Coffee Culture in Chile
According to Euromonitor data, the total coffee consumption in Chile climbed by 175% in recent years.
Chilean blog Rentokil-Initial shares that in the last years, coffee consumption has increased in Chile, as this drink has become more popular in their culture, with a cup during meetings or to start the day.
As a result, Chileans can now find a variety of coffee brands to choose from.
But although there is growth happening in the Chilean coffee industry and consumption, soluble coffee still accounts for at least 85% of all coffee sales in Chile.
Specialty coffee is still very unacknowledged in the country.
Aside from historical customer preferences for instant coffee and tea, Chile’s developing specialty coffee business has additional hurdles such as accessibility and high start-up costs.
Alejandro Inostroza is the co-founder of El Café Circular – Artisan Roast Chile in Santiago.
He says that because start-up costs are high, there is little motivation for cafés to open outside of these locations.
“If you want to import your own coffee, you have to pay a 19% tax rate upfront, without even selling anything yet. Then you also have to pay for shipping, storage, and customs”, he shares.
That being said, there are Chilean specialty coffee brands that import coffee beans and roast them on Chile.
Photo by Brigitte Tohm
