I’m not going to make you read 3000 words to find out why Medellín is the best place in the world to tour a coffee farm. It’s the weather. The mountains make their own climate here and the weather is typically perfect year round at a high altitude. If you’ve ever been curious about seeing coffee grown at he source and you’re planning a trip to Colombia then a Medellín coffee tour is definitely not to be missed.
When visiting Bogotá they haven’t got nearly as many tours available. If you’re touring a coffee plantation anywhere else in the world: it’s a long day and you’re guaranteed to be suffering from heat.
The tour I took was from Viaja Medellín on Viator. Read on for a full description of the day.
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Medellín Coffee Tour Pickup and Location
After booking they’ll confirm with you via WhatsApp. They come to pick you up at your hotel between 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning in a 16 passenger van. Of course, this assumes your hotel is central in Medellín. If you’re staying near El Poblado or Laureles you should be just fine.
About half the drive is actually Medellín traffic. In order to get out of the city you have to pass through a mountain tunnel. Once you do it’s like entering a whole different world.
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The scenery in Antioquia is astonishing, and the Medellín coffee tour is on a piece of property that’s as beautiful as the rest of the campo. One look at the scenery here will leave you wanting more. If you want to include a car rental in your trip to Medellín there’s more info on the most convenient car rentals here.
Medellín Coffee Tour Property
Upon arrival you’re staged with the groups for that day in a waiting area and divided into people who want the tour in English and those who choose Spanish. At this point you’re also outfitted with a hat, poncho, apron and coffee basket for collecting cherries up on the mountain.
The outfit looks and feels a little silly but if the sun is out you’ll be glad to have a Panama hat. There’s a reason why they sell a billion of those as souvenirs down here.
They spend a lot of time talking up how hard you’re going to work and how much coffee you’re bound to harvest. The truth is that once you start hiking up the mountain those coffee trees are dense and the mountain is extremely steep. You might pick about half a dozen cherries before they have mercy on you. You then move to the point where they start explaining the process of harvesting cherries on flat ground.
Lunch and Learning
A large part of the tour is hearing a presentation about coffee in a covered, open air classroom. It’s sort of a general lesson as people who attend the Medellín coffee tour will be coming with various levels of knowledge. They spend a lot of time trashing dark roasts and talking about their terroir. Of course, if you want to buy a pound or two to take home that’s highly encouraged. The tour comes with a sample size package of coffee large enough to brew one pot.
Part of the tour is an explanation and sampling of a sort of beverage they make from the fruit of the coffee cherries. It’s called cascara and I’ve never just run into it in a store here in Colombia but you can probably hunt it down if you try. It was served cold on the tour and tasted very similar to an Arnold Palmer.
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The lunch they serve is a typical field hand’s lunch of Colombian ingredients wrapped in a banana leaf, which is the traditional way of packing food in the country here. You can even walk into a modern urban grocery store and find a leaf-wrapped lunch in the grab and go case. In my case they made me a vegetarian meal which I quite enjoyed.
Horseback Riding
Coming in at $90 USD this tour is a bit more expensive than some other choices. Although it’s the only one I found that included horseback riding. Indeed, the riding was a major part of the tour and really added a lot to the experience.
You’re going to want to keep a very tight hold on your phone and anything else with you. The ride is rated for all ages and abilities. But as soon as you get underway the horses start walking straight up the very steep mountains. It’s quite a ride if you’re not used to being on horses.
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Eventually you come back downhill and reach some flat ground near the roadway. The guides are very happy here to take pictures for you before continuing. From here you pass through the streets of a small town below the level of the main highway. All in all it’s about 45-50 minutes of riding. You’ll end up back at the van and take the ride back to your hotel.
Bottom Line
This tour was a 10/10. One of the best things I’ve done in my travels anywhere. I’m glad I went with the horseback ride and definitely recommend this tour over anything without the horses. Check them out on Viator and book up to a day in advance.
