Café 18, Where Colombia’s Best Coffees Shine – If You’re Willing to Wait for Them

Café 18 sells itself on a simple, seductive promise: the best Colombian coffees no longer leave the country — they stay right here for us. And honestly? The moment you step into their El Chicó shop, you can feel that ambition brewing in the air. The banners, the medals, the tasting notes even on the house blends — everything screams pedigree. And to be fair, Café 18 has the résumé to back it up.

But a great résumé is only half the story. The rest is what happens at the table.

This is a shop built on excellence — sometimes dazzling, sometimes frustrating — but always ambitious enough to keep you watching.

A Coffee Pedigree Most Shops Only Dream About

The backbone of Café 18 is Banexport, a powerhouse in the Colombian coffee ecosystem since 2005. Most cafés brag about sourcing; Café 18’s parent company defines sourcing.

Their model leans on: transparency, long-term producer relationships, sustainable practices, obsessive quality control, experimental processing borrowed from wine, cocoa, and beyond.

When they say “export-quality specialty coffee,” they mean it. Their offerings consistently cup between 84 and 90 points, and the awards aren’t marketing fluff — they’re verifiable, respected, and recent.

Some of their greatest hits:

• Top Roast Colombia recognitions
  
• 2019 Gold Medal – Monde Selection for Master Blend
  
• Best Traditional Coffee in Colombia (2020) – Origin Cauca
  
• Top 5 Traditional + Top 6 Exotic Coffees (2021) – Origin Antioquia & Geisha
  
• Multiple Departmental ‘Mejor Taza’ wins (2024) in Cauca, Nariño, Tolima
  
• 1st Place Reto Cluster, 2nd Place Subasta Tolima
  
• Juan Martín experimental farm – Top 10 Cup of Excellence (2023)

The Experience: Elegant, Calm, and a Little Too Comfortable With Its Own Prestige

Café 18 is quietly elegant — not flashy, not chaotic, never trying too hard. It’s the kind of space where the music never overwhelms the room and where the equipment shines brighter than any decor element.

Their shop at El Chicó recently landed in the Top 100 Best Coffee Shops in South America, ranking #35 overall, which essentially places them in the Top 5 in Colombia. And walking in, you get why — the environment is the perfect stage for their coffee.

But here’s where the cracks begin to show.

For a café that has mastered the art of producing extraordinary coffee, they have yet to master the art of serving it efficiently.

Let’s Talk About the Coffee — Because It Really Is Exceptional

When Café 18 gets it right, few cafés in the country can compete.

The Filter Coffees

Their pour-overs — V60, Chemex, Kalita, and occasional experimental methods — are their strongest game. With origins rotating weekly, you feel like you’re touring Colombia one cup at a time.

Some standouts during our visits:

• Cauca natural experimental lot — strawberry, panela, jasmine
  
• Tolima washed bourbon — crisp acidity, pear, light cocoa
  
• Nariño honey processed — silky, sweet, tropical
  

When the baristas slow down and focus, the extraction is clean, expressive, and worthy of the competition lots they display across the shop.

The Espressos

Balanced, aromatic, with impressive clarity. Their Master Blend, the same one that won gold at Monde Selection, still performs beautifully as a ristretto or flat white.

The Food

Healthy, stylish, slightly minimalist — the menu echoes a Nordic café philosophy. Smoothie bowls, yogurt parfaits, sandwiches, salads, and plenty of gluten-free or light options. Everything tastes clean and well-assembled, though not memorable enough to steal the spotlight from the coffee.

But Then… the Service Gets in Its Own Way

Here’s where we get honest.

Café 18 has a recurring issue that we’ve overheard from friends who have visited before— the service is slow. Not just calmly paced. Slow.

• Long delays for pour-overs
  
• Staff sometimes overwhelmed despite low foot traffic
  
• Occasional misunderstandings around pricing and cup counts
  
• Lack of proactive communication
  

This pattern is surprising considering the excellence of everything behind the bar — the producers, the awards, the beans, the experimental farm, the processing innovations. When a café has coffee this extraordinary, the service should elevate the experience, not slow it down.

To put it simply:
Café 18 serves world-class coffee at a Bogotá pace that sometimes feels like a test of your patience.

Who Will Love Café 18

• Specialty coffee devotees
  
• People who enjoy slow, quiet cafés
  
• Travelers wanting a curated taste of Colombia’s best origins
  
• Anyone who values quality over speed
  

Who May Struggle

• People in a hurry
  
• Remote workers needing fast service
  
• Tourists expecting high-end efficiency
  
• Groups ordering multiple manual brews
  

Our Verdict

Café 18 is one of the most technically accomplished coffee shops in Colombia — a place where national champions roast the beans, award-winning farms supply the lots, and experimental processes turn into extraordinary sensory experiences.

When the coffee arrives, it’s brilliant.

When the service aligns, it’s memorable.

But the gap between potential and execution shows. Café 18 has everything it needs to be not just one of the best coffee shops in Colombia — but one of the best in Latin America. A few operational improvements would bridge that gap instantly.

For now, we keep coming back because the coffee is simply too good not to.
We just recommend you bring a little patience — and maybe don’t schedule a meeting right after your visit.