This Ottawa café sends a passionate love letter to Colombian coffee
Bacata Colombian Coffee
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Open: Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Monday
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Prices: Coffees, teas and beverages $3.80 to $9.50, sweet and savoury waffles $8.65 to $14.40
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'Bogota is sometimes difficult. There are a lot of social problems,' Diego, 27, says regarding Colombia's sprawling capital city of almost eight million people.
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For a good three years, the two siblings worked on their plan to start life anew abroad.
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Because they already worked in their family's bread and pastry business, staying in the food industry seemed natural. When Aleja, who is three years older than Diego, was visiting Barcelona, she was struck by the city's many high-end coffee shops and felt she could open one of her own — somewhere. Diego agreed, and he took a year of classes to become a barista and a coffee roaster.
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In June 2024, the siblings landed in Ottawa, where their half-sister and her family already lived. A half-year later, in early January 2025, the Bobadillas opened Bacata Colombian Coffee, a cozy cafe with a small back patio, on Bronson Avenue south of the Queensway.
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While Ottawa has plenty of coffee purveyors, Bacata is unique, Diego says, because it extols the virtues of artisanally grown, hand-picked, fair-trade coffee from Colombia. The closest thing to Bacata is in Montreal, he says.
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Coffee cultivation in Colombia dates back to the 1700s. Growing conditions there are ideal, thanks to the country's weather and mountainous geography. Bacata gets its Arabica coffee beans from a single, family-owned farm, Diego says.
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For java connoisseurs, Bacata serves cups of unadulterated medium-roast premium coffee made either with a French press, a siphon coffee brewing system, or as v60 Dripper or Chemex pour-overs ($7.50 to $9). 'All of them give you incredible cups and are pretty different,' says Diego.
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These specialty coffees are prepared table-side and served with explanations about the brewing process and tasting notes about the resulting drinks.
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