Café San Alberto’s coffee has the distinction of being the most awarded coffee in Colombia. All of their coffees are produced in and around one small town in Colombia’s coffee growing region.
However, luckily, you can try Café San Alberto in Cartagena!
They have a lovely (and large) coffee shop and cafe in the heart of Cartagena’s Walled City that both serves their coffee and some other tasty treats. They also have a gift shop which sells their coffee plus some other products made with coffee and different styles of coffee makers.
They also offer a few special tastings and experiences.
I stopped into San Alberto Café in Cartagena one day to see if the coffee lives up to its claim to fame during our most recent visit to Cartagena in July 2024.
I did a tasting of a few coffees and really enjoyed it!
The coffee was indeed very good, and the little mini-tasting was reasonably priced and well done. Read on for a full review of my experience trying San Alberto coffee in Cartagena.
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Why is San Alberto Coffee Famous?
San Alberto Coffee, or Café San Alberto in Spanish, claims to be the most awarded Colombian coffee. According to its website, it dates to 1972, when the family bought a coffee finca, or farm.
The founder, Gustavo Leyva renamed his farm Hacienda San Alberto after his son Gustavo Alberto, who had died a tragic death.
Overtime, it expanded, acquiring several neighboring fincas.
By the early 2000s, it was earning international certifications such as the Rainforest Alliance certification, exporting around the world, and winning awards.
According to my waitress at the San Alberto Café in Cartagena when I visited, the company works with small traditional producers all in and around the town of Buenavista, in the province of Quindío, in the heart of Colombia’s Coffee Triangle region.
The website seems to suggest all the coffee comes from the Hacienda San Alberto itself, but that it has expanded to incorporate a number of adjacent farms though.
So, maybe all of the coffee at Café San Alberto in Cartagena comes from just their lands, maybe some comes from other farmers nearby too, or maybe I just misunderstood my waitress.
But, it definitely all comes from the same town, and it was definitely pretty tasty.
By the way, you can actually tour the farm if you visit the coffee region, maybe to the pretty town of Salento, for example.
In Cartagena, they have a “Templo de Café,” or “Coffee Temple” located on the Plaza Santo Domingo, near where you’ll find the famous “fat lady” statue. There are also two templos in Bogotá.
My Experience at the San Alberto Café in Cartagena
I stopped in here to give San Alberto’s famous coffee a try.
Honestly, I had heard of them but never tried their smaller coffee shop in Cartagena. This new location only opened in 2021 not long before we relocated to the states.
During the coffee workshop I did at Café del Mural (highly recommended), David, the owner there, mentioned this coffee was very good.
So, when I arrived back to Cartagena after doing a tour to the freed slave town of San Basilio de Palenque and needed some coffee to recharge a bit, I decided to see what all the hype was about.
First, let me just say, I much prefer this temple dedicated to coffee than the tourist trap restaurants that used to be here with the waitresses always trying to herd every passerby to the tables.
Is the Café San Alberto in Cartagena a tourist trap?
Maybe…
But I did, in fact really enjoy the coffee.
The prices were also fine.
While a good bit more expensive than a street tinto perhaps, they were on par with other nice coffee shops like Libertario Coffee Roasters or a cup of coffee at a moderate to upscale sit down restaurant.
Most importantly, it was really good coffee.
I did the “Viaje del cafe,” which included 3 coffees.
My waitress also gave me a short explanation of the coffees and the methods she used to prepare them as well as let me smell the coffees.
I thought it was a nice experience.
There were two different methods used for two cups of the same coffee, which produced some subtle but surprisingly notable changes in taste.
I also had one cup of a special coffee that only has one crop a year. I have a feeling there may be a rotation of coffees and styles, so that may vary slightly depending on when you visit.
It is obviously less involved than a proper tasting or workshop (more on that below), but is a great way to learn a little bit and taste a few coffees if you are short on time, you’re planning to or have already done a visit to a coffee farm, or you just want to get your tongue wet with a basic introduction.
I should note here that my friend Brian and I stopped back in here another day for a quick coffee. We got just one coffee each, and the waitress still let us smell the coffee and prepared it in front of us. I imagine you do have to get one of the speciality preparation methods at the top of the menu for this.
I appreciate they describe the taste profile of each method on the menu.
I’ll be honest, I really like coffee and drink several cups of black coffee most days, but I’m not particularly picky. As long as it isn’t instant coffee or gas station coffee that’s been in the pot since who knows when or the burnt, overrated coffee from Starbucks I’m usually pretty content.
Accolades aside, I wouldn’t describe the coffee at Café San Alberto as some life changing experience for me. It was exceptionally good, well above average coffee though. I would not say it was overrated, like Starbucks, and that it was worth the slightly premium price.
So, does it live up to the hype?
I’ll say yes!
Oh, and I also had a waffle with ice cream!
It was good, although I thought the ice cream was a little hard/too frozen in the center and would have liked it a bit creamier.
The coffee syrup was amazing though!
Seriously, why have I never seen that before?
I actually noticed they had this in the gift shop when Brian and I went back, although they were sold out.
Speaking of that, if you don’t have the time to do a tasting, have a cup of coffee, or you just want some good coffee to take home, you can just go into the gift shop. Brian and his wife Kelly took some home for gifts, as did my mom, and I plan to stop back in and get some to take home too.
Just maybe they’ll have the syrup then too!
More in Depth Experiences Offered at Café San Alberto in Cartagena
I guess I should also say, you can of course just get a cup of coffee or barista drink like a cappuccino here.
They do, however, also do some more in depth experiences.
My waitress said these were called a “Bautizo de café,” or a “Coffee Baptism.” I’m assuming this just a figurative expression given they call themselves a Coffee Temple and they don’t pour coffee over you.
It does appear to include pouring a good amount of coffee in your mouth though.
On the webpage for the Cartagena San Alberto location, you can see the current baptisms they are offering, which at least at the time of writing this, include one with honey tastings and one with rum tastings.
I should point out too that when I asked about workshops, my waitress did mention they require at least 4 people.
If you aren’t in a group of 4, I really can’t recommend the workshop and tasting at Café del Mural enough, which can be booked online here or by communicating with them directly. There’s also this highly regarded Seed to Cup Tasting.
San Alberto Coffee Cartagena Final Verdict
If you’re wondering around Centro and need a pick me up, definitely don’t shy away from the Café San Alberto.
Whether you just have a cup, do the crash course mini-tasting like I did, or do a more in depth tasting, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Plus, you’ll be able to say you tasted the most famous and awarded Colombian coffee!
Which, by the way, you can also buy bags of coffee here as well as some of the specialty preparation methods like siphons or drip cups, plus cups, coffee soap, and with some luck, that tasty coffee syrup.
A bag of coffee would make a great gift to family, friends, or just to yourself upon arriving home!
I hope you found this review of my personal experience trying the Café San Alberto Coffee in Cartagena useful.
If you do go, I hope you enjoy it and it gives you as good a second wind as it did me! Let me know what you thought and if the coffee lived up to the hype for you in the comments.
Cheers and Happy Exploring!
Planning a trip to Cartagena?
Be sure to check out the rest of the site to help you plan!
In particular, you might want to check out my complete guide to planning a trip to Cartagena, my guide to the best areas to stay, my list of over 75 things to do, my picks for the best Cartagena tours, the best day trips from Cartagena, my suggested packing list, my guide to the Rosario Islands, and my guide to all the beaches of Cartagena.
