Érase una vez café de especialidad

A brazo de higos beside a filter coffee is the house pairing here, and it tells you most of what this Bogotá coffee bar is about.

Colombian lots, poured with instruction

The coffee programme is the clearest part of the place. The house coffee is a blend of three varieties, Caturra, Colombia and Tabi, put through a semi-washed process, and the sourcing runs to Nasa growers in Cauca, which gives the bar a specific Colombian identity rather than a general specialty menu. Alongside that base, the counter works with more unusual lots processed as naturals or honeys, chosen for what the processing brings to the cup. Preparation is personal: the baristas walk guests through what they are drinking, so a filter order here tends to arrive with an explanation attached whether or not one was asked for.

A café that runs like a classroom

Érase una Vez has worked in Teusaquillo since 2019 as a family enterprise, and it can be used as a simple coffee stop, but the identity goes further than a quick cup. The academy side is central to the atmosphere: teaching runs from coffee botany and farm processing through green analysis, roasting, sensory work and cupping to brewing, water quality, drink preparation and latte art, with shorter workshops for individuals or groups in Spanish and English. That makes the room feel instructional in a good way, closer to a counter where questions are expected than one where the order is the whole transaction. The house describes itself as young, hard-working and unusually attached to getting a cup right.

Order the brazo de higos with the filtrado

The named order is the brazo de higos with the Filtrado Erase, a pairing that sets the sweet side of the counter next to the filter service. The cake takes its cue from brazo de reina, the rolled Colombian classic tied to home baking, and this version brings in figs along with a coastal note of corozo. Take that pairing first if you want the most grounded introduction, then move to the coffee bar proper: the Caturra, Colombia and Tabi semi-washed blend for the house baseline, or one of the natural and honey lots for contrast. Between the Cauca sourcing and the filter service there is enough here for a focused visit rather than a passing one.