Colombian coffee is famous around the world, but the cup most Colombians drink every day is not the one on the bag in your supermarket. It is a tinto: a small, sweet, fairly light black coffee poured from a thermos on a street corner or brewed at home through a cloth filter.
This guide covers both sides. First, what makes Colombian coffee different and where it grows. Then how people in Colombia actually drink it, from tinto and perico to carajillo, and how to brew a proper tinto in your own kitchen.
| What it is | 100% arabica coffee grown in the Colombian Andes and the Sierra Nevada |
|---|---|
| Main regions | Caldas, Quindío, Risaralda (the Eje Cafetero), Antioquia, Huila, Tolima, Cauca, Nariño, Santander |
| Typical flavor | Medium body, bright acidity, caramel and nutty notes; fruitier from the south |
| Harvests | Two a year in most regions: the main crop and the smaller mitaca |
| Everyday drink | Tinto, a small cup of sweetened black coffee |
| With milk | Perico, pintado or café con leche |
What Makes Colombian Coffee Different
Colombia grows only arabica, the species prized for sweetness and aroma. Most of it grows on steep Andean slopes between roughly 1,200 and 2,000 meters, where cool nights slow the ripening of the cherries and build flavor.
Those slopes are too steep for machines, so the harvest is done by hand. Pickers go over the same trees several times and take only the ripe red cherries.
Most Colombian coffee is also washed. The fruit is stripped off, the beans ferment briefly in water and are then dried. Washed coffees taste clean and bright, which is a big part of the classic Colombian profile.
Because the country straddles the equator and has several mountain ranges, different regions flower at different times. Most farms get a main harvest and a second, smaller one called the mitaca, so fresh Colombian coffee comes to market for most of the year.
Today most farms grow rust-resistant varieties such as Castillo, developed by Colombia’s own coffee research center, alongside older Caturra and Typica.
Where Colombian Coffee Grows
The best known area is the Eje Cafetero, or Coffee Axis: the departments of Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda. In 2011 UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage site, the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia, for its hillside farms, bamboo and bahareque houses and towns like Salento and Filandia.
Coffee from here is the textbook Colombian cup: balanced, medium bodied, with caramel and a gentle citrus acidity.
Farther south, Huila, Cauca and Nariño grow at higher altitudes closer to the equator. Their coffees tend to be sweeter and fruitier, and they show up often on specialty roasters’ menus.
Antioquia, Tolima and Santander produce large volumes, while the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta near the Caribbean gives softer, chocolatey coffees.
A Short History of Coffee in Colombia
Nobody knows exactly when coffee arrived. The oldest written mention is in a 1730 book by the Jesuit priest José Gumilla, who described coffee growing at a mission near the Orinoco River.
The first recorded export left from Cúcuta, near the Venezuelan border, in 1808: about 100 sacks. Through the 1800s coffee spread west into Santander, Cundinamarca and then Antioquia and the Coffee Axis, carried by small family farms.
In 1927 growers founded the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC). It buys coffee at a guaranteed price, funds research and promotes Colombian coffee abroad.
The FNC created Juan Valdez in 1958: a mustached grower in a poncho and sombrero who walks his mule, Conchita, down the mountain with sacks of coffee. He became one of the most recognized characters in advertising, and today Juan Valdez is also a chain of coffee shops.
In 2007 the European Union recognized “Café de Colombia” as a protected geographical indication, the first non-European product to receive it. Colombia is now the world’s third-largest coffee producer, after Brazil and Vietnam.
How Colombians Actually Drink Coffee
For decades Colombia exported its best beans and kept the lower grades, called pasilla, at home. That is why the traditional everyday cup is light and sweetened: it was made to taste good with humble coffee.
That is changing fast. Specialty cafés in Bogotá, Medellín and the Coffee Axis now serve single-farm Colombian coffee through pour-overs and espresso machines. But the classic drinks below are still what you get at home, at a bakery or from a street vendor.
Tinto
A tinto is a small cup of black coffee, usually served already sweetened with sugar or panela. It is lighter than espresso and is drunk all day long, often in tiny plastic cups.
Street vendors called tinteros sell it from thermoses in parks and at bus stops. Offering someone a tinto is also the standard way to start a meeting or a visit. Note that outside Colombia, “tinto” usually means red wine, so order carefully in Spain.
Perico
A perico is coffee with a small amount of milk, close to a cortado. The name means “parakeet”. In Bogotá it is the usual order for anyone who wants their tinto softened but still strong.
Pintado
A pintado, “painted” coffee, is a tinto with just a splash of milk, enough to change the color. In some regions pintado and perico are used almost interchangeably.
Café con Leche
Ask for a “café” in many Colombian homes and bakeries and you will get a big cup of hot milk with a little coffee in it. It is the breakfast drink, and the one children grow up on.
Carajillo
In Colombia a carajillo is a tinto with a shot of aguardiente, the anise-flavored cane spirit. It is a cold-morning drink in the highlands and a late-night one at parties.
Café con Panela
In the countryside, coffee is often brewed with aguapanela instead of plain water. The raw cane sugar dissolves into the brewing water, so the coffee comes out sweet and slightly caramel flavored. Read more about panela itself.
How to Brew Tinto at Home
Many Colombian families still brew with a colador de tela, a cloth filter sewn onto a wire ring with a handle. It gives a clean cup with more body than paper. A pour-over cone with paper works too.
This makes about four small tintos.
- Heat the water. Bring 2 cups (475 ml) of water to a boil in a small pot. For café con panela, dissolve 1 to 2 ounces (30 to 55 g) of grated panela in the water first.
- Add the coffee. Take the pot off the heat and stir in 3 heaping tablespoons (about 20 g) of medium-ground Colombian coffee. Let it steep for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Strain. Set the colador over a pitcher or server and pour the coffee through it slowly.
- Sweeten. If you didn’t use panela, stir in sugar to taste. A traditional tinto is fairly sweet.
- Serve small. Pour into small cups. For a perico, add a splash of hot milk; for a carajillo, add a shot of aguardiente.
Rinse the cloth filter in hot water after each use, without soap, and let it dry. It darkens over time, which is normal.
What to Eat With Colombian Coffee
A tinto or café con leche almost always comes with something baked. The classic partners are pandebono (cheese bread), almojábanas and buñuelos.
At breakfast, coffee comes alongside arepas, eggs and calentado. See the full list of Colombian breakfast foods, or these Colombian desserts to serve with coffee.
Buying Colombian Coffee
Look for the round “100% Colombian Coffee” logo with Juan Valdez and his mule. It is the FNC’s guarantee that the coffee is entirely from Colombia, not a blend that happens to contain some.
For more flavor detail, buy bags that name a region, such as Huila, Nariño or Quindío, and check the roast date. Whole beans ground just before brewing make the biggest difference.
Juan Valdez and Sello Rojo are the two brands Colombians know best. We compare them with other Latin brands in our guide to the best Latin coffee brands. You can also shop Colombian coffee on Amazon or pick up a cloth coffee filter for brewing tinto.
Questions About Colombian Coffee
Is Colombian coffee strong?
Colombian coffee is usually roasted medium and tastes balanced rather than harsh. The everyday tinto is actually on the light side. “Strong” depends more on how much coffee you use and how you brew it than on the origin.
What does tinto mean in Colombia?
Tinto means a small cup of black coffee, usually sweetened. The word literally means “inky” or “dyed”. In Spain and most other countries, a tinto is a glass of red wine.
Is Colombian coffee arabica?
Yes. Colombia grows only arabica, mostly washed, on high mountain farms.
What is the difference between a perico and a pintado?
Both are black coffee with milk added. A pintado has just a splash, enough to color it. A perico has a bit more, close to a cortado. Usage varies from city to city.
Why is Colombian coffee so popular?
Consistent quality, a smooth and approachable flavor, and decades of promotion by the FNC, including the Juan Valdez campaign, made Colombia the best known coffee origin in the United States.
What is the Colombian coffee region called?
The Eje Cafetero, or Coffee Axis: Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda. UNESCO lists it as the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia.
Explore more Colombian drinks, the rest of our Latin American coffee drinks, or everything on our Colombian foods page.
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Jorge Garcia is the founder of AmigoFoods, where he has spent over 20 years helping readers discover authentic Latin American and Spanish cuisine. Raised in a Cuban-American household, Jorge learned to cook at the hands of his mother and grandmother, carrying forward generations of family recipes. That heritage, backed by his family’s four-generation history in the Latin food industry, inspired him to launch AmigoFoods in 2003. With more than 1,000 published articles on recipes, ingredients, and food culture, Jorge’s mission is simple: make authentic Latin cooking approachable for home cooks everywhere while honoring the traditions behind every dish.