The Guinness World Record For The Largest Cup Of Coffee

Coffee has long been a hallmark of the economy of Columbia and the beginnings of coffee in this South American nation were a direct result of Spanish colonization. As Coffee Affection details, Jesuits from Spain brought coffee beans with them in the early part of the 18th century. Owing to the missionary element of their work, along with their desire to encourage the farming of coffee, as religion spread through Colombia, so too did coffee.

Today, Colombia sits comfortably as the third largest coffee producing nation in the world, behind Brazil and Vietnam. In 2020, according to Statista, the country produced almost 14 million 60-kilogram bags. Colombian coffee is known worldwide for its excellent quality and mild flavor profiles, including notes of chocolate, nuts, herbs, and citrus (per Coffee Bean Corral). 

Through all this praise, there was one town in the heart of Colombian coffee country that sought to ensure their country's continued high status in the coffee world — and they did so by making the biggest coffee cup in the world.

On June 15, 2019, the Alcaldía Municipal de Chinchiná received the Guinness World Record for the largest cup of coffee in the world. The drink contained 22,739.14 liters, or over 6,000 gallons, of Arabic coffee. Fifty people worked for more than a month to build the giant coffee cup that sat in the town square. Guinness World Records also tweeted that the town went on to host the largest coffee tasting, with 1,559 participants.

According to Strait News, the organizers of the events sought to use the world record as a way of highlighting the local coffee culture and the importance of farmers in the region. Chinchiná is a town in the region of Caldas. Caldas lies in the mountains of southwestern Colombia, where coffee grows extremely well and is the departments chief product. Other products of the area include mined materials such as gold, silver, mercury, coal, and zinc (via Britannica).