Cafés in La Floresta

A garden city of Spanish street names

La Floresta became an electoral parish of its own after the October 2006 elections, when Quito was divided into 19 urban electoral parishes.¹ Its streets are named after Spanish cities and regions: Madrid, Valladolid, Lugo, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa.

Madrid and Lugo share the most cafés in the neighborhood. Madrid has La Aurora at E16-45 and Humitas La Floresta at number 647; Lugo has Gatorium (Lugo 24) and La Cleta (N24-250), and Literato Club del Té sits at Checoslovaquia and Avenida 6 de Diciembre.

Ocho y Medio and the film calendar

Ocho y Medio is run by a cultural organization founded in 2001 by film producers, directors and artists, and its two screens show mainly Ecuadorian and independent world cinema.⁷ It has had more than a million viewers since then, hosts the Encuentros del Otro Cine (EDOC) documentary festival and Turicine, and programs Eurocine.⁷ Students from the Universidad de las Américas and other schools train there in programming and cinema management.⁷

Coffee around Ocho y Medio

The cinema's corner, Valladolid and Vizcaya, is the neighborhood's coffee crossroads.³ Dough La Cafetería is further along Valladolid at N24-633 and has Wi-Fi and card payment; Botánica is on Vizcaya at E13-18. Iorana, on General Francisco Salazar, has outdoor tables, Wi-Fi and brunch.

Other addresses spread across the grid: Tierra Verde on Toribio Hidalgo, and Café Jaru, Café Lab and Jervis Café on the side streets.

Roasters with a La Floresta branch

Café Vélez has roasted and sold 100% Ecuadorian high-altitude coffee since 2007, and says it helped start the country's first barista schools.⁴ Its La Floresta café, on Julio Zaldumbide, has outdoor tables.

Raymi Coffee Roaster, whose main café is in the El Bosque mall in northern Quito, also has a branch in La Floresta; it was founded by the influencer known as El Champ, a former MasterChef Celebrity Ecuador contestant, and roasts its own coffee.⁵ It placed 99th in South America's 100 Best Coffee Shops 2026, when it had been open a year and two months.⁵⁶

In September 2026 a double espresso at Raymi cost US$2 and a 70% or 100% chocolate US$4, and máchica (toasted barley flour) came free on the side.⁵

Hours in La Floresta

Café hours are shorter than the neighborhood's evenings suggest. Nero Café, at Guipúzcoa N14-27, opens weekdays 10:00–20:00. Homero Ortega, on Avenida Isabel La Católica (N24-100), runs 09:00–18:00 Monday to Thursday and until 22:00 on Fridays. Vicentina Café, on Melchor de Benavides at the southern end, takes cash only.