The Philippines is one of the few countries that produces the four varieties of commercially viable coffee: Arabica, Liberica (Barako), Excelsa and Robusta. Although it is generally said that coffee was introduced to Lipa in 1740 by a Spanish Franciscan friar, there is actually little first-hand evidence to substantiate this. Regardless, by the early 19th century, coffee was being cultivated throughout the Philippines and subsequently exported to America and Australia, followed by Europe with the opening of the Suez Canal. Lipa is commonly attributed as being the center of this cultivation, until roughly 1889, when its industry abruptly failed, likely due to pests, coffee rust (which the Philippines had managed to avoid for longer than the rest of the world), and political factors.