In Bogotá’s flea market, children help out in their parents’ businesses. We stop at a stall of handcrafted wood figures and chat with the artisan’s daughter.

After all the bean sorting, cleaning, grinding and toasting we witnessed in our previous segments of Una Historia de Café, it’s finally time to boil up some water and do a little tasting, or “cupping,” as it’s known in laboratory circles. You might want to fire up your percolator; we have a feeling you’ll be craving some caffeine any moment now!

We’ve already seen some interesting, fabulous and downright curious things in the “mercado de pulgas” (flea market). But what about the people in there? They’re as colorful, amusing and charming as the goods in any stall.

You can almost smell the coffee as Part 3 of our documentary takes us through the roasting process.

In Colombia, costeño y cachaco are almost opposite terms. Costeños, that is de la costa, people from the Coast, are usually depicted as festive, noisy, and colorful people who really enjoy killing time. Cachaco is usually the name given to people from the capital, Bogotá, and they’re characterized by elegance; they’re always dressed up and in control of their emotions. One group is seen as lazy, the other as boring. Regional differences aside, Bomba Estéreo is a fresh musical mix of both regions.

The quest for an excellent cup of coffee continues. Now we’re in the lab working to get rid of impurities by threshing and selecting the best coffee beans.

Una pulga is a flea. “Un mercado de pulgas” is, of course, a flea market. We go on a spirited tour of Bogotá’s flea market where our guide shows us antique items we never knew we needed.

There’s a long way from the coffee tree to a delicious cup of coffee. Here’s where we start our Yabla-exclusive journey to unveil the secrets of world-famous Colombian coffee. Our first episode takes us inside a central warehouse where coffee from several Colombian regions undergoes a strict process of quality control.

The Colombian Pacific coast is a forgotten paradise. Its habitants complain about the lack of attention from the rest of the country, but it might be this bit of isolation that helps them maintain their rich culture. ChocQuibTown comes from the world’s rainiest lowland, and it is there that they learned to mix African drums and Latin beats with hip-hop and funk, creating a totally new sound that’s firmly rooted in their tradition.

ChocQuibTown is a name everyday more common on Colombian airwaves and dance floors. Their mix of traditional rhythms from el Pacífico with hip-hop elements and a heavy dose of “funky” is earning them a place on the playlists of both young listeners as well as a more traditional audience. In this Yabla-exclusive interview, we had the chance to chat with the band about where, exactly, it’s all at.