Colombia produces some of the most recognized coffees in the world. Almost everyone knows that. What fewer people know is that within the country, specialty coffee remains an underused ingredient in author gastronomy. It is served at the end of dinner, as an obligatory closing, and rarely given the starring role it deserves.
La Makha Restaurant, on the first floor of Binn Hotel in El Poblado, Medellín, works with coffee differently. Not as a finale but as an ingredient with its own identity, capable of accompanying, contrasting and completing the flavors of a Colombian author cuisine built on verified-origin product.
Why Antioquian coffee deserves a place in pairing
Antioquia is one of the most important coffee-growing departments in Colombia. Its cultivation zones, which stretch from the southwest to the east and north of the department, produce coffees with profiles that vary according to altitude, processing method and variety. A coffee from Jericó does not taste the same as one from El Retiro. A naturally processed coffee has a fruity sweetness that a washed coffee from the same origin does not have.
That complexity is exactly what makes specialty coffee a serious candidate for gastronomic pairing. It has acidity, body, sweetness, bitterness and aromatic notes that range from cacao to tropical fruit depending on the origin and process. All those variables allow combinations with dishes that follow the same logic as wine pairing.
At La Makha, that logic applies through two specific ingredients: high-quality Antioquian coffee and viche canao, the ancestral Pacific spirit with a denomination of origin that the restaurant uses as the base of several of its signature cocktails and pairings.
The Coconut and Coffee Flan: the most direct pairing
The clearest example of La Makha’s work with coffee is in the dessert that closes the tasting menu. The Coconut and Coffee Flan uses coffee toffee and bitter orange cream over a creamy coconut flan with crunchy sunflower seed brittle. The pairing that accompanies this course is a Carajillo made with viche canao, a combination that puts high-quality Antioquian coffee in conversation with the ancestral spirit of the Colombian Pacific.
The result is not a dessert that tastes like coffee. It is a construction where the coffee brings bitterness and depth, the bitter orange gives acidity and freshness, the coconut balances with its natural sweetness and the viche canao in the Carajillo adds an alcoholic note with its own character. Every element has a role and none is surplus.
This dessert is available both in the tasting menu ($420.000 with pairing, $330.000 without) and on the individual à la carte menu at $35.000.
The signature Carajillo: coffee and viche in one drink
The Carajillo that La Makha serves as the pairing for the Coconut and Coffee Flan is not the conventional espresso-with-liqueur Carajillo. It is an author version that uses high-quality Antioquian coffee and viche canao instead of the usual spirits.
Viche canao is a variety of the traditional Pacific viche that goes through a maceration process with aromatic plants and fruits. It has an aromatic complexity that conventional rum or brandy cannot replicate. Combined with Antioquian specialty coffee, it produces a digestif that has Colombian identity from start to finish.
For those who want to explore that combination outside the tasting menu, the Esfumado ($38.000) is the La Makha signature cocktail that comes closest to that profile: aged rum, Frangelico, tamarind syrup, orange peel and clarified lemon juice. It does not contain coffee directly but has the same logic of bitterness, sweetness and depth.
Coffee in the context of La Makha’s cooking
Beyond the dessert and the Carajillo, coffee appears at La Makha as a transversal ingredient that connects with the culinary identity of the restaurant. The Pork Belly ($68.000), with its black garlic and huacatay glaze, has bitter notes that pair well with a naturally processed coffee served as accompaniment. The Orellanas ($58.000), with their smoke powder and yogurt foam, have an umami profile that finds contrast in the bright acidity of a single-origin coffee from eastern Antioquia.
Those kinds of connections are not codified on the menu as a formal coffee pairing. But they are part of the experience for those who arrive at the restaurant with curiosity and ask the host team about the possibilities. La Makha has the hospitality infrastructure to personalize the experience beyond what is written on the menu.
B Coffee: specialty coffee in the Binn Hotel ecosystem
La Makha is not the only space within Binn Hotel where specialty coffee has a starring role. B Coffee, the hotel’s work and coffee space, serves premium Antioquian coffee in an environment designed for productivity and rest. For those who want to start the day with good coffee before exploring Medellín, or close a work meeting with something worth drinking, B Coffee is the natural prelude to La Makha’s gastronomic experience.
La Makha’s breakfast, available every day from 6:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., is also a moment where specialty coffee plays a central role. It is the kind of breakfast where the coffee does not arrive in a pot but as part of a proposal that takes care of every detail.
Coffee and author gastronomy: why Colombia has the advantage
Colombia has something that few coffee-producing countries have: an author gastronomy in active development that can integrate coffee as a first-rate gastronomic ingredient. Not as an accompanying drink but as a construction element in sauces, desserts, pairings and digestifs.
La Makha is one of the few restaurants in El Poblado that works with that possibility seriously. Antioquian coffee does not arrive at the restaurant as a generic. It has a profile, an origin and a specific place in the culinary proposal. That is what separates La Makha’s work from the average.
To understand in more detail how La Makha builds its pairings and the logic behind each combination of drink and dish, the article on authentic pairing at La Makha explains the selection process and the philosophy behind each pairing.
Hours and reservations
La Makha opens for dinner Monday to Thursday from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday until 10:30 p.m. Sundays and holidays are closed for dinner. Breakfast is available every day from 6:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
The restaurant is at Carrera 25 #10-51, Transversal Superior, El Poblado, Medellín, on the first floor of Binn Hotel, with free covered parking.
Frequently asked questions about coffee pairing at La Makha
How does La Makha use specialty coffee in its gastronomic proposal?
Coffee appears as an ingredient in the Coconut and Coffee Flan dessert, as the base of the Carajillo pairing with viche canao that closes the tasting menu, and as a connection element with other flavors through the breakfast experience and the hotel’s B Coffee.
What is La Makha’s signature Carajillo?
It is an author version of the Carajillo that combines high-quality Antioquian coffee with viche canao, the ancestral Pacific Colombian spirit with a denomination of origin, instead of conventional spirits.
Where is La Makha in Medellín?
At Carrera 25 #10-51, Transversal Superior, El Poblado, Medellín, on the first floor of Binn Hotel.
How much does the tasting menu with pairing cost at La Makha?
$420.000 per person with curated pairing, which includes the Carajillo with viche canao as the dessert course pairing. Without pairing it costs $330.000 per person.
What is viche canao and why does La Makha use it?
Viche canao is a variety of the traditional Colombian Pacific viche that goes through maceration with aromatic plants and fruits. It has a denomination of origin and an aromatic complexity that the restaurant uses in several signature cocktails and in the tasting menu dessert pairing.
Does La Makha have breakfast options with specialty coffee?
Yes. Breakfast is available every day from 6:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at La Makha. Binn Hotel also has B Coffee, a premium coffee space open to hotel guests and outside visitors.
To book and discover La Makha’s full proposal, the starting point is the official La Makha Restaurant page. If Colombian specialty coffee is part of what you are looking for in a gastronomic experience, La Makha has a concrete answer.
