If you love Colombian coffee, you’ll love our resources…
We have many articles, videos, and courses about coffee in Colombia. In this area, we help you start to explore your love of Colombian coffee. Enjoy your reading…and slurping!!
Get Free Coffee Resources
The free coffee resources at our sister site, Latin American Coffee Academy, will help you take your coffee knowledge to a deeper level and give you a deeper understanding of the people behind the bean.
8 Coffee Shops to Visit in 2021
Sniffing out good coffee is a rewarding challenge in Colombia. You may have to travel a bit to get to all the coffee shops in Bogota, but it’s worth the effort.
Who is Juan Valdez?
Juan Valdez, the coffee guy with the donkey, is perhaps the most famous coffee grower of all time. But who is Juan Valdez? Does this celebrated coffee grower represent something larger than himself? Let me walk you through the history of this well-known coffee grower and how he’s affected the coffee industry for decades.
Does Coffee from Different Regions Taste Different?
Do coffees from different parts of the world taste different! Yes! But why? We’ll guide you through an understanding of coffee regions around the world.
Where do Aromas and Flavors in Coffee Come From?
Knowing where the flavors come from will help you choose the best coffees when faced with descriptions on the bag or on a coffee website.
Why You Need to Know about Coffee Varieties
What in the world is a coffee variety and more importantly, why should you care? In this article we’ll show you what a variety is, who should care about coffee varieties, and how to learn more about them.
Why You Should Slurp Coffee
What? Are we telling you to slurp in public? Read on to find out the truth.
5 Ways to Make Your Morning Coffee Taste Better
Do you know the essential keys to learn about coffee tasting and enjoy your daily brew so much more? Here are 5 essential things you need to know.
Which Coffee Brewing Method is Best for you?
You’re looking for that unforgettable cup of coffee, and you know the brewing method is important. But which is the best coffee brewing method for you?
3 Reasons Why You Should Care About Coffee Growing Regions
Why is coffee from different regions…different?
Colombian Coffee Dreams: One Entrepreneur’s Vision
In the mid-1990s, Luis Fernando Vélez wasn’t concerned about Colombian coffee. He was busy selling flowers.
In Colombia that wasn’t uncommon, since the fertile land near Medellin is flower-growing country. In fact, the country is one of the largest producers of flowers in the world. So the next time you receive or send flowers, those gorgeous blossoms might be from Colombia.
You could imagine that those flowers would be from Luis Fernando Vélez’s flower export company. But they won’t be.
You see, Vélez didn’t get that far with selling flowers. The problem was the coffee.
How To Order an Espresso Drink in Bogota
You’ve probably heard about espresso, but you may not have tried it. Espresso drinks are a central part of coffee scenes in many countries around the world. However, when faced with a long menu of drinks with names you’ve never heard of, you may get confused about how to order an espresso drink. Here we’ll help you figure out how to order an espresso drink in Bogota.
In Colombia, Hope Smells of Coffee Beans
How can specialty crops create hope?
Two of our Favorite Things: Chocolate and Coffee in Colombia
Two items in my kitchen cupboard are not essential but certainly seem to be: coffee and chocolate. Yes, I could live without them – though not too happily.
I’ve also noticed that combining them produces double the happiness. It’s something I did recently by teaming up with Suzie Hoban from the Colombian Chocolate Club for an interview with Richard McColl on Colombia Calling, the top English-language radio show in Colombia. The interview took us around the country to little-known regions and even into the future as we discussed what these two products mean to Colombia.
The First Step of a Coffee Book Journey
At the advice of a friend, I organized my tours and made them available on Flavors of Bogota. They’ve been a huge hit, and have sent me down a caffeinated path I never thought I’d take. That path, as the best paths do, led me to somewhere unexpected. It led to a book.
How to Brew Specialty Coffee that Impresses your Barista
So you’ve taken a tour of specialty coffee shops in Bogota. You were impressed with the skill of the baristas and the excellent brews you tried. Perhaps you bought several bags of Colombian coffee, and you are anxious to impress your friends with your new coffee brewing knowledge.
Now you’re asking yourself: “How can I brew specialty coffee in my kitchen?”
And you’re also probably saying, “Please make this simple for me.”
What Makes a Specialty Coffee Shop Unforgettable?
When you visit Bogota, at some point you may find yourself on a chilly street wondering where to warm up with a good coffee. Now, if what you mean by a good coffee is that you need to find a specialty coffee shop, you and I have something in common.
When I began writing travel articles for international publications, I always had to include coffee shops. After all, this is Colombia, the largest exporter of fine Arabica coffee in the world.
It was only after spending large amounts of time with enthusiastic coffee shop owners, talented and generous baristas, and many cups of coffee that I realized I’d found something amazing.
Coffee Fair in Bogota
Every year the coffee industry in Colombia has a coffee fair that gathers together everyone involved in the coffee industry – coffee growers, exporters and distributors, coffee shop owners and baristas. From around the world coffee importers come looking for the next specialty coffee to take back home with them.
The most exciting moment of the fair is the national barista championships, where the top baristas around the country compete to see who will be the king for the following year.
How Coffee Changes Us
I grew up in a house with no coffee. There was no coffee pot on the stove, no coffee maker on the counter. There was no smell of coffee to wake us in the morning and no reason to sit around the kitchen table mid-afternoon. We ate our cookies with milk. And we considered ourselves normal.
I want you to know that I did not feel deprived. But after my dad discovered specialty coffee, things changed.
Specialty Coffee Workshops
Join Flavors of Bogota for a coffee workshop! We visit some of the best shops in the city, where you can meet top baristas and learn to taste and brew specialty coffee like a pro! Find out more here.
On His Way to the (Coffee) Championships
The judges stood in a line, facing him. Diffuse sunlight filtered through the window behind them, and in the background stood brick buildings with that orange tint so typical of Bogota.
No one was interested in the view.
Lighting a Fire under Coffee Culture in Colombia
I met Karen Silva at a Juan Valdez coffee shop. She’s in her twenties. Serious. Shy. In a society that places quite a bit of emphasis on women’s physical appearance, there was no bling about her, no lipstick or flashy earrings. Her hair was caught back in a fine black net, a fashion that every other Juan Valdez employee was sporting. There wasn’t much about her that impressed me.
Until she made that coffee for us.
What Goes on at a Coffee Tasting in Bogota?
Thinking of doing a coffee tasting in Bogota? Here’s a guide to get the most out of it.
In the first part of this series we discussed what gadgets are necessary to cup or taste coffee, what the coffee evaluation involves, and what points to keep in mind when evaluating it. Now we’ll go into the details about the characteristics you should look for to evaluate the cup of coffee.
Don’t miss Part 2 of this article.
Is Colombian Coffee really Better?
Since I moved to Colombia I’ve heard over and over again that Colombian coffee is the best. My reaction is: “Of course Colombians would say that!” But when doing research into what makes a good cup of coffee, I found some interesting facts about Colombia.
Colombia’s 2015 National Barista Champion
The Specialty Coffee Expo took place from October 15-18 in Corferias, when 13,000 visitors came to taste coffee from around the country at the most important coffee fair not only in Colombia, but also Latin America and the Caribbean. This annual fair is organized by the National Coffee Federation of Colombia (Federación Nacional de Cafeteros (FNC).
Drinking Coffee in Colombia
100% Colombian coffee – that expression is known around the world. Coffee has been one of Colombia’s most steady exports for decades.
It is any different to taste a cup of coffee in Colombia?
Yes.
How Colombians Brew Coffee
I watched a Colombian grandmother make coffee in a way that shocked my American roots.