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Food & Drink · Coffee — specialty coffee, from cherry to export cup
Zeal: Colombia Coffee
A seven-day immersion across Colombia's coffee world — from Bogotá's award-winning cafés to remote Andean farms — learning to taste, process, and evaluate specialty coffee alongside champion baristas, Q-grade labs, and multi-generational producers.
Trip highlights
- A "coffee baptism" and Q-grader-style tasting with a champion barista in Bogotá
- Hands-on lab access at La Palma y El Tucán — sensory work usually reserved for certification students
- Hand-harvesting at a remote Andean farm open only by private request
- A green-coffee blending and cupping session at an export farm shipping to Dubai and beyond
- Meeting the fifth-generation IWCA women producers at Primitivo
- Contrasting the full spectrum — from artisanal micro-lots to Buencafé's freeze-dried operation exporting to 60+ countries
The Zeal edge
What separates this from an ordinary trip.
Who you learn from
- A champion barista in Bogotá (Café San Alberto)
- the team at La Palma y El Tucán (hosts Q Grader / Q Processing certifications)
- the second- and third-generation owners of Lacía (exports to Dubai, the US and Europe)
- the fifth-generation Correal family women producers at Primitivo (IWCA members)
- an English-speaking expert host at "Coffee in the Clouds"
- a Colombian cacao expert (the hotel owner) for the cacao workshop
Privileged access
- Hands-on lab access at La Palma y El Tucán for sensory evaluation — processes the doc describes as "typically reserved for industry professionals and certification students."
- "Coffee in the Clouds," an authentic working farm that "receives visitors only by private request rather than mass tourism."
- A private audience with the IWCA women producers at Primitivo.
- Behind-the-scenes access to Buencafé, an industrial freeze-dried operation exporting to 60+ countries.
What you do
- A sensory "coffee baptism"
- A private brewing session and Q-grader-style tasting
- A fermentation-process comparison and flawed-vs-excellent cup tasting
- Hands-on lab sensory-evaluation exercises
- Hands-on coffee harvesting alongside a local producer
- Green-coffee selection, a blending exercise, quality control, drying protocols, export preparation and cupping
- A hands-on cacao workshop (bean fragmentation, shell removal, nib extraction, chocolate fondue)
What you'll leave able to do
Understand and taste the full specialty chain from cherry to export cup; cup and evaluate coffees using Q-grader method; read how fermentation and processing choices shape flavour; place any coffee on the spectrum from artisanal micro-lot to industrial export; process cacao by hand from bean to fondue.
Where you’ll go
Bogota to Zipacón to Valle del Cauca to Pereira, in order.
- Bogota → Zipacón: ~90 min
- Zipacón → Valle del Cauca: ~7 hours
- Valle del Cauca → Pereira: ~1.5 hours
Your itinerary
7 days / 6 nights, Colombia
Arrival in Bogotá
Arrive in Bogotá. Receive the welcome coffee amenity kit (contents not yet finalised — see Section 0). 19:00 welcome dinner at a local restaurant within walking distance (shared appetiser, one main and one dessert each, one local beer and one non-alcoholic beverage each).
- ✓Welcome dinner at a local restaurant within walking distance (shared appetiser; one main course and one dessert each; one local beer and one non-alcoholic beverage each)
Bogotá: contemporary & sensory coffee culture
10:00 "coffee baptism" sensory experience at Café San Alberto; private brewing session with a champion barista and Q-grader-style tasting training. Walking tour of La Candelaria ("A Taste of Change" — Fragmentos, Monserrate with fast-pass entry, Plaza de Bolívar), then lunch. Finishes at Tropicalía Coffee — tasting of 5–7 specialty coffees paired with origin cacao, billed as South America's #1 coffee shop.
- ✓ "Coffee baptism" sensory experience and private brewing session with a champion barista at Café San Alberto
- ✓La Candelaria walking tour with an English-speaking guide (Fragmentos, Monserrate fast-pass entry, Plaza de Bolívar)
- ✓lunch at a local restaurant
- ✓specialty-coffee tasting (5–7 coffees with cacao pairing) at Tropicalía Coffee
- ✓entrance fees
- ✓private transportation
- ✓English-speaking tour leader throughout
La Palma y El Tucán: innovation, science & processing
Fermentation-process comparison session; tasting flawed vs excellent cups; hands-on lab access for sensory evaluation. Introduction to the Biodiversal regenerative-agriculture initiative (Tierra Viva, Solid Card, Solid Blend, Wormix projects). Guided tour of plantations, fermentation and drying areas, ending in the lab with a specialty tasting. Lunch on the deck with a view; time to rest in private cabins
- ✓Full tour of La Palma y El Tucán led by the farm's own team — fermentation-process comparison session, hands-on lab access for sensory evaluation, guided tour of plantations/fermentation/drying areas, specialty tasting in the lab, introduction to the Biodiversal sustainability initiative (Tierra Viva, Solid Card, Solid Blend, Wormix)
- ✓Lunch on the deck
Transfer to the Coffee Region + "Coffee in the Clouds"
06:15 breakfast box; 06:30 land transfer to the Coffee Region (~7 hours, with rest/snack stops). 14:00 visit to "Coffee in the Clouds" (Valle del Cauca, Andes, 1,650m) — hands-on coffee harvesting with a local producer, ancestral coffee traditions, varieties and harvest data, the artisanal export-grade process, farm-to-table lunch. 18:00 transfer to hotel (~50 min). 19:00 dinner — 7-course tasting menu with pairings by a local chef.
- ✓Hands-on coffee harvesting alongside a local producer at "Coffee in the Clouds," led by an English-speaking expert host
- ✓Farm-to-table lunch
- ✓7-course tasting-menu dinner with wine pairings by a local chef
Lacía: boutique export coffee + cacao workshop
10:00 depart to Lacía Farm — hosted by the second- and third-generation owners; visit the laboratory, drying process and coffee varieties; green-coffee selection, blending exercise, quality control, drying protocols, export preparation, cupping. Lunch at the farm. 15:00 transfer back, then a cacao workshop with the hotel owner (Colombian cacao expert): bean fragmentation, shell removal, nib extraction, chocolate fondue. Dinner at the hotel.
- ✓Farm tour, green-coffee selection, blending exercise, quality control and cupping at Lacía Farm, hosted by the second- and third-generation owners
- ✓Lunch at the farm
- ✓Cacao workshop led by the hotel's owner, a Colombian cacao expert (bean fragmentation, shell removal, nib extraction, chocolate fondue)
- ✓Dinner at the hotel
Primitivo (women producers) + Buencafé (industrial scale)
09:00 Primitivo Prime Colombian Coffee — meet the fifth-generation Correal family women producers (IWCA members); five farms growing Castillo, Caturra, Pink Bourbon and Caturro Chiroso at 1,300–1,750m, full traceability. Light lunch. ~1.5-hour drive to Chinchiná to visit Buencafé (est. 1973), an industrial freeze-dried operation using 100% Colombian Arabica, exporting to 60+ countries. Transfer to a hotel near Pereira; dinner on your own.
- ✓Visit to Primitivo with the fifth-generation Correal family women producers (IWCA members) — traceable, full-quality-control tour of their five farms
- ✓Light lunch
- ✓Visit to Buencafé, the industrial freeze-dried coffee facility
Departure (Pereira)
Transfer to Pereira airport. International departure.
How this compares
Against a typical small-group sightseeing or "coffee tour" trip through Colombia's coffee region.
| Typical tour | This Zeal trip |
|---|---|
| Café visits, scenic farm tour | Q-grade lab access + a private-request-only working farm + an export blending session |
| General local guides | Named farm owners, IWCA women producers, a champion barista |
| Watch and taste | Harvest, cup, blend, evaluate |
| Surface-level introduction | Q-grader method, fermentation science, export quality control |
| Often 15–30+ | Capped at 6–10 |
What’s included
- ✓Accommodation as listed each night: Hotel B.O.G 4★ (Bogotá, business twin), La Palma y El Tucán Hotel (standard twin cabin), Casa Rivera del Cacao (superior twin, ×2 nights), Hotel Bourbon Finca del Café (superior twin), all with breakfast
- ✓All meals as specified in the day-by-day (breakfast daily; welcome dinner Day 1; lunches Days 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; dinners Days 4, 5)
- ✓A "coffee baptism" sensory experience and private brewing session with a champion barista at Café San Alberto
- ✓A La Candelaria walking tour with an English-speaking guide ("A Taste of Change" — Fragmentos, Monserrate with fast-pass entry, Plaza de Bolívar)
- ✓A specialty-coffee tasting (5–7 coffees paired with origin cacao) at Tropicalía Coffee
- ✓A full tour of La Palma y El Tucán led by the farm's own team — fermentation-comparison session, hands-on lab sensory evaluation, plantation/fermentation/drying-area tour, specialty tasting in the lab, and an introduction to the Biodiversal sustainability initiative
- ✓A visit to "Coffee in the Clouds" with hands-on harvesting alongside a local producer, led by an English-speaking expert host
- ✓A visit to Lacía Farm with the second- and third-generation owners — green-coffee selection, blending exercise, quality control and cupping
- ✓A cacao workshop led by the hotel's owner, a Colombian cacao expert
- ✓A visit to Primitivo with the fifth-generation Correal family women producers (IWCA members)
- ✓A visit to Buencafé, the industrial freeze-dried coffee facility
- ✓Entrance fees for all included visits and attractions
- ✓Private transport for all tours; Spanish-speaking drivers for transfers; English-speaking guides for tours
- ✓Zeal tour leaders throughout
- –International & domestic flights
- –Arrival (Day 1) and departure (Day 7) private transfers
- –Tips
- –Unlisted meals/drinks/services
- –Optional tours
- –Early check-in/late check-out
Good to know
FAQs
No. It starts from a sensory "baptism" and builds up — made for keen drinkers who want real depth, not trained baristas only.