Coffee lovers look no further, your days of disappointed watered-down, milk bathed, sugar roasted cortados are over. Full City Coffee House in Chacarita is the absolute real deal, serving their own brand of high quality Colombian coffee and becoming one of the best spots in Buenos Aires for a cup of the good stuff.
The owners of this independent coffee house know their shit when it comes to coffee. Upon ordering your coffee, you’ll be asked “How do you like it?” Not quite sure how to answer, since I didn’t know there are many variations of a cortado, I let the barista decide. The Colombian-UK couple, Victoria Angarita and Allan Dorgan, take the utmost pride in offering this much needed addition to the Buenos Aires café scene, a country that prides itself on their café culture.
Victoria has coffee running through her veins. The daughter of Colombian coffee God, her father Parmenio Angarita is kinda a big deal in the coffee world: coffee educator, an expert roaster with his own brand of coffee, and founding director of EduCafés, a school created for baristas and those who want to specialize in the art of all things coffee.
Named after the type of medium roast that produces a higher level of quality coffee, Full City serves a full menu of breakfast, lunch and merienda items. You’ll see treats such as Allan’s famous homemade burger, a wide selection of paninis, various salads, and of course, Colombian specialities. The prices are very affordable, with most items costing under 35 pesos, something that is quite rare in the BA café world.
In addition to coffee, Allan is also a burger freak and worked very hard to perfect his recipe: fresh ground beef with mixed spices inside cumin and paprika, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and an egg on top, served with perfectly cooked roasted potato fries. What really kicked the burger up a notch: ask for some extra spice to smother on the bun. Want to pair it with coffee? No problem! Apparently the burger goes really well with the café de Guayata, a coffee named after a town close to Bogotá, where all the coffee is harvested by the local women.
Next, the “Arepa Full City,” an arepa with chicken, tomato, cheese and pesto. I’m not versed in arepa knowledge, but the ones I’ve tried were from Venezuela and quite different, looking similar to a semi-open stuffed pita bread. This one was made with a corn masa, and tasted similar to a corn tortilla. This arepa wasn’t my favorite, bad ordering on my behalf as I was looking for an out of character light lunch. The pesto on top of cheese on top of grilled chicken on top of corny-arepa was too much for my stomach to handle. Probably next time I’d go with a daily special, stick with the burger or try one of the paninis.
Other than the coffee, super friendly staff, quick service, tasty and reasonably priced food, Full City has an inviting atmosphere making it the ideal spot to sit for hours. It’s become my new favorite café to bring my laptop and do work; the WiFi is pretty strong and they have ample outlets for computer charging.
Their outdoor patio might be one of the best havens in the city, despite the loud HipHop music from the dance studio upstairs. There is a covered outdoor “living” area and an open-aired garden section with a couple of tables. I did spot some heat lamps – crucial for winter outdoor seating.
Ditch Cabrales or Bonafide, since they roast and grind the coffee fresh in house, you can pick some up para llevar and shoot up every morning with the good shit.
Full City Coffee House’s passion for coffee is evident in every cup. I admit that for my coffee fix I’d frequent Starbucks (Soy Bullshit Latte) or Establicimiento de Café, but this great coffee haven is quite the BA find, quickly converting into my new go-to coffee shop to gorge on paninis and crack out on endless cups of strong, beautifully aroma-ed coffee.
Full City Coffee House
Jorge Newberry 3663 (between Charlone y Roseti), Chacarita
Tel. 4556-1789
Monday – Friday: 9am – 7pm, Saturdays: 10am-3pm, closed Sundays
thank. god.
“our days of disappointed watered-down, milk bathed, sugar roasted cortados are over”, writes our all-american girl. Ok, now I KNOW you don’t know anything about good coffee.
Nice review, want to check this place out soon.
I’m guessing this is a typo:
“Guayata, a coffee named after a town close to Bogotá, where all the coffee is harvested by the local WOMAN.”
But please leave it that way as I love the image of a place in Colombia where there is only one woman in the population, with all of the men chasing after her, but she’s too busy harvesting all of the coffee on her own to pay them any attention.
Haha, typo yes… I had to change it but you can still keep that image in your mind.
I wanna go to Guayata.
perv.
Burgers y coffee BUENO, good find chica!!
nice allie, lovely lovely photos:)
Thanks Joss!!
i want to go to there
hahaha eating ice cream on the treadmill … story of my life.
Looks like a cozy place with good coffee and the photos are great!
Thanks Beatrice!
I plan to try it Monday morning!
thx for rescuing us from the clutches of Cabrales and Bonafide!
Siii, que salvacoón!!
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I just went this morning, as you I was expecting something different from the Arepa (a friend of mine is colombian and she does something almost like a pita bread too) but it was good. Very friendly staff. I’ll go back….too bad they close at 3 on sats!!
I want to go to there !!
Good job A. !!!
Genial! ahora se a donde van los narcos colombianos!
Mala onda la de tu mensaje, el hecho de ser colombianos no nos involucra a todos con este mal de la humanidad.
Comentario estupido!!!
Si totalmente de acuerdo ese comentario demuestra la incultura e ignorancia de alguien sobre un pais tan lindo como Colombia.
Amigo, si los lugares de tu gusto son los que frecuentan los narcos estas en el equivocado, de todas formas te invito a que amplies tus conocimientos y te tomes un buen cafe colombiano. Te recomiendo que tambien conozcas a los colombianos, que son personas maravillosas y te quites esos estigmas, eso solo te hace parecer un ignorante.
The coffee at this place is most definitely the best in BA! We were a bit disappointed in the breakfasts though – the arepa and the continental breakfasts were a bit bland and the toast was very undercooked. Will go back for the coffee though!
How can you have “very undercooked” toast? You mean bread? That you had bread, not toast, with your breakfast?
Too little too late for me, I leave my in 3 weeks! Gosh I miss good coffee!
Ok, wish I could spell or even articulate what I wanted to say. I leave in 3 weeks!
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This place looks excellent – I’ve got high hopes for the great coffee you promise! And your pictures are lovely.
Hey I did go to Full city and it is amazing! I also found a little coffee shop that YOU HAVE TO TRY in the city centre. They also serve Colombian coffee and it is FANTASTIC! THEY HAVE FLAT WHITE and they know how to make it properly, something extremely rare in BA. the name is Co.Co espresso and is on Avenida Belgrano 1711. They have loyalty cards, so after buying 9 coffees the 10th one is free! The front is painted turquoise so you can’t miss it!!! Let me know if you liked it!!!
I’m from Colombia and I live in BsAs… When I heard about Full City, I couldn’t wait to go there. It feels like home! The staff, the food, the garden and obviously the coffee! I really enjoy going there and being able to find things I thought I just had back home! I really recommend it.
Coco Coffee was good. They looked to be serving Full city beans. I would definitely recommend going there!
sorry, it is Coco Espresso…
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