Café 18

Café 18 is what happens when a 17-year-old Colombian green-coffee exporter decides to open a domestic café. BANEXPORT has been inside the specialty supply chain for over a decade and a half — sourcing, milling, exporting — and Café 18 is where they pour the kind of coffee they normally ship overseas.

The bean card runs deeper than most Bogotá cafés would dare: Sudan Rume, Pink Bourbon, Harrar, and a rotating cast of small-lot Colombian specialty, roasted in-house and dialled for both espresso and pour-over. The Cra. 5 location is a colourful, contemporary room — entered into the SCA's Coffee Design Awards in 2022 — and the bar is staffed by some of the most decorated baristas in the city.

If you can only seek out one specialty cafe in Bogotá to taste rare varietals on any given day, this is the one.