The king of coffee in exile

Pet jaguars, prison escapes and a tragic kidnapping: How a world coffee baron came to Charlotte
JEFF ELDER
jelder@charlotteobserver.com

Today you're having coffee with Mariano Ospina.

Oh no, no, no. You will not be dashing into Starbucks for a cardboard cup. You will not slurp through a little hole in a plastic lid.

That's the American version of coffee.

The scion of Colombia's most famous coffee family does not dash. He does not slurp.

Ospina, 54, wears a mane of salt-and-pepper hair and the beard of a king. He invites you to sit in a booth of a restaurant in Charlotte's Elizabeth neighborhood. He gently eases pressure upon the plunger on a French press coffeepot, brewing his family's $70 a pound coffee.

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