The Best Medellin Coffee Tours to Try in 2023

TLDR? The best Medellin coffee tour is the Coffee Experience at the Marquee Hotel. 

The flowers, the innovation, the charismatic people, the food, the festivals, the nightlife, the climate, and much more are characteristics of Medellin. In fact, all of these pretty awesome features have made Medellin the third-best destination to visit in the world, according to Time Out magazine.

Now, while all these are certainly great features of the City of Eternal Spring, if there’s one other reason tourists are racing to visit, it’s because of the great coffee. Medellin is a great place to explore the origin of the coffee trade in Colombia, thanks to its high altitudes and mild climates. 

So, if you’re ready to taste some authentic Colombian coffee for yourself, keep reading. I’ve broken down the top six coffee tours to check out around the City of Eternal Spring!

El Laboratorio de Cafe

This isn’t just a place to go for a cup of coffee. El Laboratorio de Cafe is a company dedicated to roasting and marketing coffee, which also has the aim of creating a culture of special coffees, as well as creating experiences around this caffeinated drink, specifically coffee that originates from Colombia.

This place seeks to make coffee growing sustainable and friendly to the environment under the concept of ‘micro-roasters,’ achieving synergy between technology and the art of coffee. That’s a pretty cool mix if you ask me. 

Now, as its name suggests, this coffee lab is an ideal place to practice, test, and get the best out of each bean and each roast for a perfect final product—all using select beans processed in small batches.

Besides enjoying coffee tastings at El Laboratorio, you can also enjoy a classic tour to the roasting plant, where you’ll get an in-depth understanding of Colombian coffee.

The tasting tour consists of a two-hour visit to the roasting plant in which people will have the opportunity to experience:

• The processes that grains go through
• How high-quality Colombian coffee is marketed
• How the selection processes are carried out by coffee growers
• How the storage, threshing, roasting, and distribution processes work
• The different flavors of coffee that they offer and their particularities are

After you’ve meandered your way through the coffee lab, you’ll get a chance to learn how to prepare your own cup of coffee using different brewing methods. All the coffees used in the tasting have scores above 87, according to the Specialty Coffee Association.

Once your tour is over, you can pick up products to take as a souvenir, such as bags of at-home coffee, craft beers with notes of coffee, and even books to teach you more about coffee!

This tour can be scheduled at any time, from Monday to Saturday just by reaching out to the company via phone. 

Address: Cl 10 #35 17, El Poblado, Medellín, Colombia

La Fabrica de Cafe

La Fabrica de Cafe is a place that operates as a roastery, a coworking space, and a coffee shop. It even has a mobile bar if you want to hire them for your private event!

This place is located in the El Perpetuo Socorro neighborhood, in the heart of Medellin, and seeks to work as a collective of local coffee brands. It’s a place where, in addition to brewing great drinks, ideas about coffee arise, businesses are closed, and partnerships are created. 

Because of this ambiance, La Fabrica de Cafe has more than 30 allied companies in the sector, and brings together professionals from threshing, roasting, profiling, packaging, and developing coffee with the latest technology developed in the City of Eternal Spring. 

Now, enough about business. 

If you’re heading to this place to take a coffee tour, you’re in luck. La Fabrica de Cafe offers coffee tours, tasting experiences, and barista workshops. Here are two of their most popular coffee tours: 

1. ‘Tostemos cafe’ (Let’s roast coffee): A workshop that consists of roasting your own coffee, brewing the beans, and finally conducting a tasting. 
2. ‘Los sabores del cafe’ (The flavors of coffee): A 1.5 hour tour where you roast your own bag of coffee, go through a sensory experience in the lab, and finally get a personalized bag of coffee to take home.

To attend these experiences, you’ll need a prior reservation. Each reservation requires at least 5 people to operate, so it’s best to go in a group if you can. Then, when you’re done, you can enjoy the city attractions nearby which are located in the center!

Address: Cra. 50 # 34 62, La Candelaria, Medellín, Colombia

Website: https://www.instagram.com/lafabrica.cafe/?hl=es

Tostadora Cielo Tostado

Cielo Tostado is a place located in the San Joaquin neighborhood in Laureles and dedicated exclusively to the roasting and production of specialty coffee. As a result, this shop works exclusively with beans grown at Villa Sofia Farm, located in the town of Jardin, Antioquia. 

Jardin is one of the coffee-growing municipalities of this region and is only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Medellin!

At this place, you can purchase freshly roasted coffee or buy cups of coffee to go or enjoy in-house. However, you can also take mini-courses that teach you more about our favorite caffeinated drink. 

The tours and courses offered at Tostadora Cielo Tostado include:

• Basic roasting course
• Espresso barista course
• Barista methods course
• Cupping course
• “Tostadora Cielo Tostado” Tour

Each of the courses lasts three hours, during which you’ll learn specificities of coffee processes such as roasting high-quality specialty coffees, working an espresso machine, conducting different pour-over methods, and enjoying an analysis of sensory and physical profiles of the coffee.

In contrast, if you’re just there for the tour, this is a little shorter. The tours last between 45 and 60 minutes, during which you’ll learn what makes Colombian coffee one of the best in the world. You’ll also learn about the roasting process, and get to know secrets about how and why coffee gets packaged the way it does. 

At the end of this tour, you get a filtered brew and locally made chocolate as well as a half pound bag of freshly roasted coffee to take home! Another point in this tour’s favor is that it’s conducted in Spanish, English, and French.

To take this tour, you can book by giving the company a call. Just remember that tours need at least three people to operate but not more than five people. 

Address: Circular, Cra. 66B #177 3ra, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Website: http://www.cafecielotostado.com/

Cafe Noir

Cafe Noir is a coffee bar located in El Poblado, one of the most touristy neighborhoods in Medellin. It also happens to be where most Casacol properties are located, so that will make this tour an easy one to take for any hotel guests!

Cafe Noir offers luxury coffee experiences in a sophisticated environment with a lot of style. It’s also filled with plants, which makes you feel like you’re on the coffee farm itself while you’re on the tour!

In this place, they work with coffee which is grown in the mountains of southwestern Antioquia or in zones like the La Sierra neighborhood, so you are going to try only local products. That makes this tour an even better pick if you’re wanting to get to know coffee from Medellin specifically.

Now, in addition to being a site with a huge menu of champagnes, bakery items, gourmet meals, wines, and more, there is a small space for pairings and tastings where people can enjoy the following experiences:

• Food pairing for two people
• Wine and cheese pairing for Two
• Coffee tasting

The coffee tours are taught by Noir’s professional baristas, so you’ve got a pro on your side to teach you how things work! 

This tasting, which can be taken in Spanish or English, can be taken without prior reservation, and although there is only one type of coffee bean, the experience is all about tasting a wide variety of brewing methods. 

The tour is designed for a maximum of six people and lasts about an hour. The good news is, if your tour runs overtime, you can stay and grab dinner at the Cafe!

Address: Cl. 8 #37a41, El Poblado, Medellín, El Poblado, Colombia

Website: http://www.cafenoircolombia.com/

La Casa Grande Coffee Hacienda

In the surroundings and outskirts of the city, there are dozens of coffee farms where you can see how coffee growers live and work. Towns like Jardin, Andes and Jericó are well known for this type of agriculture in Antioquia, too.

However, the surrounding hills in Medellin are quite suitable for growing coffee, so you can take a Medellin coffee tour without having to go far.

La Casa Grande is a farm located in Santa Elena, just 25 minutes from Medellin, and offers a tour where you will learn about all processes related to coffee: 

• Growing
• Harvesting
• Processing the coffee beans
• Aromas and properties
• Tasting

It’s a fully interactive tour that allows you to explore, touch, and smell coffee of paisa origin. But that’s not all! 

The experience is complemented by a homemade lunch, a nature walk, and even bird watching. Don’t forget to take home your La Casa Grande coffee bag at the end of the tour, either!

Address: Vía Medellín – Santa Elena km 6, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Website: http://www.lacasagrandecoffeehacienda.com/

The Marquee Coffee Experience

The Marquee Hotel is one of the most recognized luxury hotels in Medellin and is located in the heart of Parque Lleras in El Poblado.

In addition to being a place that offers a stay with all the comforts, luxuries, and an elegant and classy contemporary design, it’s a place that offers one of the best coffee tours in town. This tour, called the Marquee Coffee Experience, is a tasting experience that can be taken in both English and Spanish.

The experience is dictated by a professional barista and lasts about an hour and a half. During the experience, you’ll get:

1. An introduction to the standards of high-quality coffee
2. A personalized and professional coffee tasting 
3. How to identify the aroma, body, and taste of coffee
4. Comparison between coffees of different qualities.

A great fact about this coffee tasting is that you don’t have to travel to a coffee shop in the city if you are staying at this hotel. Just head downstairs, and you’re ready to start tasting!

Address: ​​Cra. 38 #9A-13, El Poblado, Medellín, El Poblado, Antioquia, Colombia

Website: https://www.marqueemedellin.com/

Visit Medellin and Try Out a Coffee Tour

There are different ways to explore coffee in the City of Eternal Spring. Immersion tours in coffee farms, tastings in coffee bars, factory tours, and tastings with professionals and experts in the field are all options available to you. 

Choose your favorite, there are options all over the city, and recharge with local coffee, one of the most recognized in the world!

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