''Café con aroma de mujer'' ("''Coffee with the Scent of a Woman''") is a 1994

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...

produced by then programming company

RCN Televisión RCN Televisión, branded as Canal RCN (''Radio Cadena Nacional'') is a Colombian free-to-air television network owned by Organización Ardila Lülle. It was founded as a television production company on March 23, 1967, and officially launched a ...

on state-owned

Canal A Canal A (previously known as ''Cadena Dos'') was a Colombian open television network launched on January 16, 1971, under the name ''Tele9 Corazón'' (pronounced "telenueve corazón"). History TV9 Telebogotá (Teletigre), the first private tel ...

. It was created and written by Fernando Gaitán. It was broadcast in several countries throughout Latin America, North America and Europe.

Overview

Teresa Suárez (

Margarita Rosa de Francisco Margarita Rosa de Francisco Baquero also known as Margarita Rosa and La Mencha (born August 8, 1965) is a Colombian actress, singer, tv host and beauty pageant titleholder. Biography 1980s Margarita Rosa de Francisco was born in Cali, Valle ...

), nicknamed "Gaviota" (Spanish for "

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

"), and her mother Carmenza Suárez, work as harvesters and throughout the year they travel to different farmlands across

searching for work. Each October, just prior to the harvest period in the coffee axis, they travel to the

hacienda A ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards ...

Casablanca in Filandia whose owner, powerful coffee businessman Octavio Vallejo, secures employment for them. One October, Vallejo dies and his family, spread over the world, heads back to Casablanca to attend the funeral. Once back in the hacienda after several years in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, his grandson Sebastián Vallejo (

Guy Ecker Guy Frederick Ecker (born February 9, 1959) is an American actor. Born in Brazil to American parents, Ecker became a household name in Latin America for his portrayal of Sebastián Vallejo in the Colombian telenovela '' Café, con aroma de mujer ...

) meets Gaviota and only with her he is eventually able to overcome his fear of women. After a few encounters, Sebastián and Gaviota begin a short, but passionate affair that becomes for both of them their first true romantic experience. They keep their romance a secret, specially from his aristocratic family, but eventually he must leave back for London after his grandfather's funeral to finish his college studies. The pair agree to reunite in Casablanca exactly the same date the following year, once he graduates, to finally marry. Shortly after Sebastián's departure, Gaviota finds out she is pregnant. Finding no means to get in contact with him, distrusting his family and with no one else to turn to, she decides to travel to Europe herself to search for him, having been deceived by a network of

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

who prey on her naivete by offering her a job as a model but actually hoping to exploit her as a

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Sebastián returns to Casablanca the following year to keep his promise and, after searching for her in town, he finds out she went to Europe to work as a prostitute. Disheartened, and influenced by his avaricious cousin Iván Vallejo (

Cristóbal Errázuriz Cristóbal or Cristobal, the Spanish version of Christopher, is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to: Given name *Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972), Spanish fashion designer *Cristóbal Cobo (born 1976), Chilean academic *Cri ...

), he weds his friend Lucía Sandoval ( Alejandra Borrero) who accepts a lifetime in a completely

sexless marriage Sexless marriage or platonic marriage is a marital union that occurs between spouses in which there is little or no sexual activity involved in their relationship. Taking into account what is defined as any form of sexual activities by the resp ...

just to be by his side. Gaviota, having assumed a new identity in Europe as Carolina Olivares, finally returns to Colombia but only manages to arrive at Casablanca the morning after Sebastián and Lucía's wedding ceremony has taken place there. Dismayed by the sudden turn of events, Gaviota looks for her mother and secretly leaves Casablanca for good in order to stay away from Sebastián and to find a better life in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

. Having much difficulty in the huge and unfamiliar city she eventually returns to the world of coffee, this time being employed by Cafexport, the coffee-exporting company owned by the Vallejo family, under her alternate identity as Carolina Olivares. After realising Gaviota's return to Casablanca and her almost immediate departure, and also regretting his hasty and love-lacking marriage, Sebastián decides to employ all his means to find her. Lucía eventually finds out about his previous story with Gaviota and vows to keep her marriage and fight by thwarting his plans, while Iván and his wife Lucrecia (

Sylvia de Dios Sylvia may refer to: People *Sylvia (given name) *Sylvia (singer), American country music and country pop singer and songwriter *Sylvia Robinson, American singer, record producer, and record label executive *Sylvia Vrethammar, Swedish singer cred ...

) secretly plot to keep Sebastián and Gaviota apart in order to keep late Octavio Vallejo's wealth for themselves.

Impact

This telenovela marked a difference in

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

telenovelas and the way they were created. The story involved both typical and modern parts of Colombia, taking place in the heart of Colombian coffee plantations, showing a

panoramic A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word ...

and authentic view of the culture of Colombian coffee growers and the traditional heartland of Colombia's coffee-growing

highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Africa * Highlands, Johannesburg, South Africa * Highlands, Harare, Zimbab ...

, while also taking place in the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

and providing an insight into the coffee business in an important coffee export companyAnna Marie de la Fuente
Beating the telenovela bushes for another 'Betty' - 'Cafe' may be headed for the U.S.
''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', 19 November 2006 and the

National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, (), abbreviated as Colombian Coffee Growers Federation or Fedecafé, is a non-profit business organization, popularly known for its " Juan Valdez" marketing campaign. The Federation was found ...

. In a short time, ''Café, con aroma de mujer'' became popular among audiences of all ages and genders, to the point that it became popularly told how the whole country would "come to a standstill" when the show came on the air on weeknights at 20:00. Its competition on

Canal Uno Canal 1 (; pronounced "Canal Uno" () is a Colombian state-owned television channel. It is owned by the Government of Colombia and managed by Phoenix Media, a private company. From 1957 to 2017, the channel was administered by private programming ...

was '' Las aguas mansas'' produced by

RTI Colombia RTI Colombia, also known as Radio Televisión Interamericana (Inter-American Radio and Television), is a Colombian television production company and former ''programadora''. It aired 14.5 hours per week of programming in 1993. In the 1990s, as a ...

, which would be remade in 2003 as the successful ''

Pasión de gavilanes ''Pasión de Gavilanes'' (international title: ''Hidden Passion'') is a Colombian telenovela written by Julio Jiménez (writer), Julio Jiménez. It is produced by RTI Colombia in conjunction with the Telemundo network and with the participation ...

''. The lead star

, already popular for her roles in ''Gallito Ramirez'' (1986) and ''Los Pecados de Inés de Hinojosa'' (1988) and for being a former Miss Colombia (second place in Miss World 1985), gave life to "Gaviota", one of the most popular characters in Colombian television and De Francisco's most important work.

Cast

Main cast

... Teresa "Gaviota" Suárez / Carolina Olivares Maldonado *

... Sebastián Vallejo * Alejandra Borrero ... Lucía Sandoval de Vallejo *

... Iván Vallejo *

... Lucrecia Rivas de Vallejo * Constanza Duque ... Carmenza Suárez

Supporting cast

Sílvio Ángel Silvio (, ) is an Italian male name, the male equivalent of Silvia. Sílvio is a variant of the name in Portuguese. It is derived from the Latin " Silvius", meaning "spirit of the wood," and may refer to: People * Silvio Benítez (born 1935), for ...

... Buitrago * Juan Carlos Arango ... Aurelio * Santiago Bejarano ... Miguel Alfonso Tejeiros de Caballero * Óscar Borda ... Harold McLein * Alejandro Buenaventura ... Roberto Avellaneda * Manuel Busquets ... Jorge Latorre *

Gustavo Corredor Gustavo is the Latinate form of a Germanic male given name with respective prevalence in Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. It is derived from Gustav /ˈɡʊstɑːv/, also spelled Gustaf, a Swedish name, likely from Slavic Gostislav. People with ...

... Rafael Vallejo * Juan Ángel ... Mauricio Salinas * Luz Dary Beltrán ... Josefina *

Gloria Amparo Carmona Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins ...

... Daniela *

Gerardo de Francisco Gerardo may refer to: People Given name Gerardo is the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian form of the male given name Gerard. * Gerardo Amarilla (born 1969), Uruguayan politician * Gerardo Bonilla (born 1975), Puerto Rican-born professional race c ...

... Francisco Vallejo * Kenny Delgado ... Víctor Ángel * Myriam De Lourdes ... Ángela Sáenz de Vallejo *

Tania Fálquez Tania is usually a given name. It may refer to: Given name * Tânia Alves, Brazilian actress and singer * Tania Brishty, Bangladesh actress and model * Tania Bambaci (born 1990), Italian actress * Tania Belvederesi (born 1978), Italian cyclist * ...

... Martha Benavides * Danna García ... Marcela Vallejo Cortez *

Harry Geithner Harry Geithner Cuesta ( Bogotá DC, Cundinamarca; March 9, 1967), known as Harry Geithner, is a Colombian actor, film director and producer known for being CEO of Geithnerland productions Inc., a production company, talent agency and content cre ...

... Dr. Carmona * Claudia Liliana Gonzalez ... Daniela Reyes * Jacqueline Henríquez ... Graciela * Lina María Navia ... Paula Vallejo Cortez * Haydee Ramírez ... Marcia Fontalvo *

Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 27, 1971), nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball catcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Ran ...

... Reinaldo Pérez *

Andrei Satora Andrei, Andrey or Andrej (in Cyrillic script: Андрэй, Андрей or Андреј) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include: * Andrei of Polotsk (–1399), Lithuanian nobleman *And ...

... Arthur * Rey Vásquez ... El Galtero *

Guillermo Vives Guillermo () is the Spanish form of the male given name William. The name is also commonly shortened to 'Guille' or, in Latin America, to nickname 'Memo'. People * Guillermo Amador (born 1974), American musician *Guillermo Amor (born 1967), Spanis ...

... Bernardo Vallejo Sáenz * Dora Cadavid ... Cecilia de Vallejo * Bibiana Navas ... Matilde

Soundtrack

#Gaviota #Aroma de mujer - _{''"Scent of a woman"''} #Entre dos fuegos - _{''"Between two fires"''} #Volveran las Obscuras Golondrinas - _{''"The dark swallows will return"''} #Mal Amor - _{''"Bad love"''} #Sangra un corazón - _{''"A heart bleeds"''} #A mi pesar - _{''"To my regret"''} #As de Corazones - _{''"Ace of hearts"''} #Como si nada - _{''"Like if nothing"''} #Como un cristal - _{''"Like a glass"''} #Vuelve - _{''"Come back"''} #Café café - _{''"Coffee - coffee"''} # Ni soy río, ni soy flor - _{''"Neither am river, nor a flower"''} # Chapolera # Inquietud - _{''"Concern"''} All tracks are sung by

with the exception of «Sangra un Corazón», sung by

Argentinian Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

singer Luis Andrés Penagos. The telenovela's opening credits feature «Gaviota», but its Argentinian broadcast used instead «Sin tí» by Donato y Estefano.

Remakes

''Cafe con Aroma de Mujer'' was remade in Mexico twice. In 2001,

TV Azteca Televisión Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V., commonly known as TV Azteca, is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as so ...

first produced '' Cuando seas mía'' starring

Silvia Navarro Silvia Angélica Navarro Barba (born September 14, 1978) is a Mexicans, Mexican actor, actress. She debuted as actress in 1997, in the lead role in the telenovela ''Perla (TV series), Perla''. Since then, she continued to work for Mexican TV n ...

and

Sergio Basañez Sergio may refer to: * Sergio (name), for people with the given name Sergio * Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found * Sergio, the mascot for the Old Orchard Beach Surge baseball team * ''Sergio'', a 2009 documentary film about ...

as 'Paloma' and 'Diego'. In 2007,

Televisa Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April ...

produced ''

Destilando Amor ''Destilando amor'' (English: ''Distilling Love'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Nicandro Díaz González for Televisa in 2007. It is the remake of the 1994 Colombian telenovela '' Café con aroma de mujer''. On Monday, January 22, 2007, Ca ...

'' with

Angélica Rivera Angélica Rivera Hurtado (; born 2 August 1969) is a Mexican singer, model and telenovela actress who, as the wife of Former President Enrique Peña Nieto, was the First Lady of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. During her husband's tenure as preside ...

and

Eduardo Yáñez Eduardo Yáñez Luévano (; born September 25, 1960) is a Mexican actor. Early life Yáñez was born in Mexico City. He lived with his mother, and has never met his father. Career Producer Ernesto Alonso saw Yáñez's potential and gave him ...

, changing coffee for

tequila Tequila (; ) is a liquor, distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, Jalisco, Tequila northwest of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands (''Los Altos (Jal ...

. In 2021, a different, modern version of '' Cafe con Aroma de Mujer'' has been remade by

, starring Laura Londoño and William Levy.''Laura Londoño será la nueva Gaviota en Café con Aroma de Mujer''
/ref> All the soundtracks in the 2021 remake are performed by Laura Londoño herself.

International release

DVD release

There are no plans to release the telenovela on DVD. However, there are bootleg copies of the show on DVD.

Sources

''Cronología del cine latinoamericano: 1990-2004''
Original Spanish article.

References

External links

*
Argentinian fansite
{{RCN Telenovelas 1994 telenovelas RCN Televisión telenovelas Spanish-language telenovelas 1994 Colombian television series debuts 1995 Colombian television series endings Television shows set in Bogotá