In Medellín, Hija Mía Coffee Roasters serves up the best flat white, thanks to New Zealander Shaun Murdoch, who brought his coffee passion and equipment halfway across the world. They blend Colombian beans with Kiwi expertise, offering a unique café experience that’s both global and local, making it a must-visit for any coffee lover.
Let me set the scene: You’re in Medellín, Colombia—a country so synonymous with coffee that Juan Valdez is basically a national superhero. You’re craving a proper cup, something beyond the sugary tinto that locals knock back like water. So where do you go?
To a café run by a guy from New Zealand, obviously.
Welcome to Hija Mía Coffee Roasters, where the best flat white in Medellín comes with a side of delicious irony.
Shaun Murdoch first landed in Colombia back in 2001, long before Medellín became the digital nomad hotspot it is today. Back then? No hostels. No trendy café scene. No tourists snapping photos of Comuna 13. Just a city he fell completely in love with.
But there was one problem. Shaun is a New Zealander, and New Zealanders take their flat whites very seriously. (Fun fact: New Zealand has more coffee roasters per capita than any country on Earth. These people don’t mess around.)
Medellín’s coffee scene at the time? Let’s just say it didn’t meet Kiwi standards.
Most people would’ve just complained about it. Shaun decided to do something slightly unhinged instead: he quit his job, gave up financial security, packed a La Marzocco espresso machine and a coffee roaster into a shipping container, and sent it all halfway around the world to Medellín.
“Sound risky?” the café’s website asks. “Sure, but there are times in one’s life when you have to follow your dreams.”
“Hija Mía” translates to “my daughter,” and while Shaun does have three daughters, that’s not actually where the name comes from.
It’s a classic Antioquian expression—the kind of thing a Colombian father-in-law might say when dishing out advice or affection. Think of it like “sweetheart” or “my dear.” Shaun borrowed it from his own father-in-law, who uses it constantly.
It’s a small detail, but it tells you something important: this isn’t some expat who showed up to “fix” Colombian coffee. It’s someone who married into the culture, literally and figuratively.
Here’s where things get beautifully paradoxical.
Hija Mía sources its beans from the Huila region in southern Colombia—one of the most celebrated coffee-growing areas on the planet. Their signature Rebelde Blend combines Caturra and Bourbon varieties from small fincas around Santa Maria.
The beans are roasted on-site in a compact North 3 kilo roaster that sits right inside the café. Shaun roasts fresh batches weekly, and if you time your visit right, you’ll walk into a wall of that intoxicating just-roasted aroma.
So yes: Colombian beans, roasted by a New Zealander, served in teal ACME cups imported from Auckland, pulled through a bespoke Melbourne espresso machine.
It’s globalization, but make it delicious.
For the adventurous, they also offer single-origin options like Chiroso—a rare variety discovered on a farm near Urrao, Antioquia. Coffee nerds compare it to the legendary Geisha for its complexity and floral aromatics. It tastes like peach, honey, and mandarin had a very sophisticated baby.
Let’s talk food, because Hija Mía isn’t messing around here either.
The avocado toast has achieved near-mythical status among Medellín’s brunch crowd—smashed avo with cherry tomatoes, chili, feta, all perched on proper sourdough. The açaí bowls are Instagram-ready but actually taste good. The French toast will make you briefly forget your New Year’s resolutions.
Oh, and there’s peanut butter. Not just any peanut butter—Shaun partnered with another Kiwi expat named Dan Cardiff to create Mani Bros, an all-natural, freshly-roasted peanut butter made from Argentine peanuts. It’s the kind of thing you buy “for later” and then eat with a spoon in your Airbnb at midnight.
The original Hija Mía location in Barrio Manila is tiny—maybe 12 seats if everyone breathes in. There’s a retro fridge, a vintage cash register, and that ever-present roaster radiating warmth in the corner.
It’s the kind of place where Shaun himself might be perched on a bar stool, happy to chat about bean varietals or give you directions around the neighborhood. The staff are legendarily friendly (reviewers name-drop them like celebrities: Julio, Luisa, Stephanie, Michele, Paula).
The WiFi is fast. The vibe is “stay as long as you want.” Digital nomads camp out for hours over a single flat white, and nobody side-eyes them for it.
If the original spot is packed (and it often is), there’s now a larger 40-seat location on the ground floor of Los Patios Hostel nearby. Same quality, more elbow room.
Here’s the thing that could feel weird but somehow doesn’t: a foreigner opening a specialty coffee shop in Colombia, of all places.
But the dirty secret of Colombian coffee is that historically, the good stuff got exported. For decades, Colombians were left with the lower-grade beans while the premium harvests shipped off to roasters in Italy, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands.
What Shaun and other third-wave coffee pioneers have done is essentially keep the best beans in Colombia and show locals (and visitors) what their country’s coffee can really taste like when it’s treated with obsessive care.
It’s not cultural appropriation. It’s more like… aggressive appreciation?
Address: Calle 11A #43B-9, Barrio Manila, El Poblado, Medellín
Hours:
Pro tips:
Second location: Ground floor of Los Patios Hostel, nearby on Carrera 43E
Hija Mía isn’t just one of the best coffee shops in Medellín—it’s a love letter to what happens when obsession meets opportunity.
A Kiwi who couldn’t find a decent flat white decided to make his own. In doing so, he helped change a city’s coffee culture while celebrating the incredible beans Colombia was already growing.
Is it a little absurd? Sure. Is the coffee incredible? Absolutely.
Sometimes the best stories come from people crazy enough to ship an espresso machine across an ocean.
¡Hija mía, qué café!