Let's get this out of the way: it's pronounced RAH-roh. Not "RARE-oh." Not "Ruh-ROW." Not "Rory." We've heard all of them, and we love you anyway.
Yes, we're a coffee brand selling in the US with a name a lot of Americans can't say on the first try. Every branding playbook tells you to pick something short, easy to spell and impossible to mispronounce. We read that playbook. Then we put it down and went to make coffee.
Here's why.
Raro means weird. On purpose.
In Spanish, raro means weird, strange, unusual, rare. Not rare like a steak. Rare like the friend who orders something nobody else at the table would've picked, and ends up being right.
We started Raro in Medellín, Colombia, in 2025, and the name came from a simple idea: we didn't want to look, taste or feel like anything you're used to. Colombian coffee has a very specific picture in people's heads. Mountains, mules, "100% Colombian" printed on a can. That coffee exists, and it's fine. It's just not what we wanted to make.
We wanted the coffees that are hard to find. Small lots from producers we know by name, like Andrés Quiceno at Finca Milán, John Wilmer Cuellar at Las Brisas and Wilton Benítez at Paraíso 92. Coffees with personality, so we gave them one: Authentic, Rebel and Striking. Coffee for people who don't fit neatly into a label, and don't want to.
But weird doesn't mean complicated. Raro is simple, but not basic. A good cup shouldn't need a lecture to be enjoyed. You brew it, you drink it, you get it. That's the whole point.
Why we didn't change it for the US
When Raro landed in Miami in 2026, the obvious question came up: should we translate it? Make it easier? Call ourselves something friendlier for an English-speaking market?
No. Three reasons.
A name you have to learn is a name you remember. "Bold Bean Co." slides right out of your head. "Wait, how do you say that?" sticks.
Every mispronunciation is a conversation. Someone says "Rare-oh," someone else corrects them, and suddenly two people are talking about coffee. We'll take that.
It's ours. We're Colombian. The name is Spanish because we are. Translating it would've meant sanding off the exact thing that makes us different.
About the goat
If you've seen our bags, you've met the goat. Legend says coffee was discovered in Ethiopia when a goat herder noticed his goats getting suspiciously energetic after eating red berries from a certain bush. Those berries were coffee.
So the goat is the original coffee drinker. Curious, a little reckless, full of energy, and kind of strange. Basically, Raro with horns.
How to say it like a local
Here's the secret: you already know how to make half of this sound.
Raro has two R's, and they're different.
- The first R gets a little roll, the classic Spanish trill. Can't roll your R's? Don't stress. A quick tap works fine and nobody's grading you.
- The middle R is the easy one. It's a single tap of the tongue, the exact same sound Americans make in the middle of "ladder" or "butter" when you say them fast.
Put it together and say it quickly: RRAH-doh. Congrats, you speak a little Colombian now.
So, what the f*ck is Raro?
Raro is Colombian specialty coffee for people with weird (in a good way) taste. Hard-to-find coffees, made simple. A name you'll mess up once and never forget.
Come try the weird one. Shop Raro