Travel + Leisure - India & South Asia
Exploring the Eje Cafetero
GETTING THERE United Airlines
offers flights from Delhi to Bogotá, with a stopover in Newark. From Mumbai, Etihad Airways
operates flights via Abu Dhabi and Frankfurt. Bogotá is about 306 km east of the Eje Cafetero. From there, you can catch a domestic flight to the city of Armenia, and then rent a car at the airport.
COFFEE TOURS
Many working coffee farms do scheduled or informal tours, including Finca El Recuerdo (cazal16@ yahoo.es; 57-310376-4672), near Salento, and El Fénix
outside Armenia. Ecotourism outfit
Penelope Birding
runs single- and multi-day tours that combine farm visits, coffee tastings, and of course, spotting some of Colombia’s rare birds.
RESTAURANTS
AND CAFES
The colourful Filandia restaurant Helena Adentro (entrées `380–`760; helena adentro.com), with a rotating menu that uses only hyperlocal produce, is widely considered the culinary centre of the Eje Cafetero. Nearby, Cultivar Café
has incredible mountain views and serves craft coffee, as well as modern takes on Colombian dishes like
(fried beef intestines) and croquettes of
The convivial Café del Guadual
in the town of Circasia, and Café La Tertulia
in
Calarcá, have become regional coffee meccas.
WHERE TO STAY
Bio Habitat Hotel (in pic; doubles from `9,506; biohabitat hotel.com) is a collection of glass tree-house-style suites surrounded by lush forest. There’s an infinity pool, a wellness centre, and a slowfood restaurant, Basto
from chef María Clara Roa. For a more pastoral experience, the family-owned La Cabaña Ecohotel (doubles from `4,930; lacabana ecohotel.com) offers cosy rooms and horseback riding on a working dairy farm. with all the same ingredients,” Gosling said. “It’s Colombian flavours combined in new ways.”
A short drive away, on a steep hillside above the village of Calarcá, Fajardo and his brother, Miguel, have brought a similar approach to the region’s most famous crop. On the morning I visited their four-year-old coffee farm, Miguel walked me up and down a steep hillside between rows of bourbon, geisha, and woosh woosh—varieties not often grown in the Eje Cafetero, some thriving, others having a harder time. The land smelled damp and fresh; the berries that Miguel plucked off the plants were tannic and sweet, the white flowers bright starbursts among the dark green leaves.
Down in the farmhouse, Fajardo had installed himself over a woodburning stove, preparing tamales and reheating fat red beans from the night before, the kind of traditional food he hopes to serve to guests when the farm eventually opens a simple guesthouse. The farm is called El Fénix, Miguel explained as we looked out over the hazy valley spread out below, “because it rose from the ashes.”