Antigua Guatemala

Café Bohème

Very cozy restaurant with a focus on international food, good coffee and Guatemaltekan hot chocolate. Has a rooftop terrace from which you can see Fuego spitting every once in a while

Mon-Thu 7:30-20:00, Fri Sat 7:30-20:30

Coffee Farm Tour

Ex As Green as It Gets

Learn how to pick, process and roast your own coffee. Spend a day with a coffee farmer, on the base of Volcán Agua, and learn what a day in the life of a small independent coffee farmer is like. The tour will take you up the volcano to pick coffee from their fields. They will then take you to their homes to demonstrate how to separate the coffee fruit by density, husk the fruit, ferment and wash the beans, dry, remove the inner hull, sort by size and grade, roast, and of course taste. Costs Q200 for the day, and includes a pound of coffee as well as English translation and guide services. Tours begin and end at Plaza de San Miguel Escobar in Ciudad Vieja, and must be booked at least 24 hours in advance.

Three-hour tours begin at 09:00 and 13:00

El Hato

A small village in the mountains 20 minutes and 200 meters above Antigua (1800 msl), where you can hike around through the forest and coffee plantations and take in the view of the city. Chicken buses to El Hato (40 minutes; Q4) leave from the Mercado several times a day on an irregular schedule.

Fernando's Kaffee

Some of the best coffee in Antigua, plus great breakfasts. Fernando, the owner, is very friendly and may show you his operation: the coffee roaster, grinder, etc. Pleasant courtyard seating is found when walking through the first two rooms and around the kitchen. The breakfasts are awesome: pancakes and crepes and fresh fruit. It is a great place to relax drinking wonderful coffee.

Mon-Sat 07:00-19:00, Sun 07:00-13:00

Rainbow Café

Tourist-friendly and wholesome breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. An early-bird breakfast special of tomatoes, beans, eggs, rice, and tea or coffee is easy on the wallet. Sandwiches and dinner entrees are inexpensive too, and salads and big desserts are also on offer. Uses purified water for all drinks, ice, and preparation. They have a rich schedule of live music, poetry readings, and interesting lectures about Guatemala. Includes Internet access in its cornucopia of tourist-friendly offerings. If you spend more than GTQ20 in the attached bookstore, you get 25 minutes of Internet time as a bonus.

Daily 08:00-23:00·Q45-90

Valhalla Macadamia Farm

A nursery of macadamia trees with an interesting environmental and economic agenda. Valhalla has donated over 250,000 macadamia trees to indigenous communities in Guatemala. Macadamia nuts are a cash crop, with the potential to provide a better livelihood for Guatemalan peasants than does coffee. The shells can be used for street paving, and Valhalla have found a way to provide the trees as genetically diverse complete plants, instead of as grafts. This allows natural selection to adapt the trees to changing environmental conditions. The station turns macadamia nuts into snacks, chocolates, a fine skin cream, a pure oil, and a flour that can be made into pancakes. Pancake breakfasts are served every day until 15:30. The breakfast includes 3 pancakes made of macadamia flour, served with macadamia butter, homemade blueberry jam and a drink of your choice. No reservation required. The station offers tours in Spanish, English, and sometimes other languages. At the end of a tour they offer samples of their various products. To get there, try taking a chicken bus, which run every 30 minutes; the fare is around Q3.50 one way.

Mon-Sat 08:00-16:30