Café, con aroma de mujer

Café, con aroma de mujer
Created by Fernando Gaitán
Directed by Pepe Sánchez
Starring Margarita Rosa de Francisco
Guy Ecker
Alejandra Borrero
Silva de Dios
Constanza Duque
Opening theme Gaviota by Margarita Rosa de Francisco
Country of origin Colombia
Original language(s) Spanish
No. of episodes 169
Production
Running time 45 minutes
Production company(s) RCN Televisión
Release
Picture format 480i SDTV
Original release November 30, 1994 – 1995
Chronology
Preceded by La potra zaina
Followed by Eternamente Manuela

Café, con aroma de mujer ("Coffee, with the scent of a woman") is a 1994 Colombian telenovela, produced by then programming company RCN TV on state-owned Canal A. It was written and created by Fernando Gaitán. It was broadcast in several countries throughout Latin America, North America and Europe.

Overview

Teresa Suárez (Margarita Rosa de Francisco), nicknamed "Gaviota" (Spanish for "Gull"), and her mother Carmenza Suárez, work as harvesters and throughout the year they travel to different farmlands across Colombia searching for work. Each October, just prior to the harvest period in the coffee axis, they travel to the hacienda 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, his grandson Sebastián Vallejo (Guy Ecker) 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 who prey on her ingenuity by offering her a job as a model but actually hoping to exploit her as a prostitute in Paris.

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), he weds his friend Lucía Sandoval (Alejandra Borrero) who accepts a lifetime in a completely sexless marriage 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. 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) 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 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 and authentic view of the culture of Colombian coffee growers and the traditional heartland of Colombia's coffee-growing highlands, while also taking place in the capital city and providing an insight into the coffee business in an important coffee export company[1] and the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia.

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. Interestingly, its competition on Canal Uno was Las aguas mansas, produced by RTI Colombia, which would be remade in 2003 as the successful Pasión de gavilanes.

The main protagonist, Margarita Rosa de Francisco, 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

Supporting cast

Soundtrack

  1. Gaviota
  2. Aroma de mujer - "Scent of a woman"
  3. Entre dos fuegos - "Between two fires"
  4. Volveran las Obscuras Golondrinas - "The dark swallows will return"
  5. Mal Amor - "Bad love"
  6. Sangra un corazón - "A heart bleeds"
  7. A mi pesar - "To my regret"
  8. As de Corazones - "Ace of hearts"
  9. Como si nada - "Like if nothing"
  10. Como un cristal - "Like a glass"
  11. Vuelve - "Come back"
  12. Café café - "Coffee - coffee"
  13. Ni soy río, ni soy flor - "Neither am river, nor a flower"
  14. Chapolera
  15. Inquietud - "Concern"

All tracks are sung by Margarita Rosa de Francisco with the exception of «Sangra un Corazón», sung by Argentinian singer Luis Andrés Penagos. The show's opening credits feature «Gaviota» but it's Argentinian broadcast used instead «Sin tí» by Donato y Estefano.

Remakes

Cafe con Aroma de Mujer was remade in Mexico twice. First TV Azteca produced Cuando seas mía in 2001, starring Silvia Navarro and Sergio Basañez as 'Paloma' and 'Diego'. Televisa produced Destilando Amor in 2007, changing coffee for tequila.[1][2]

DVD release

There are no plans to release the novela on DVD. There are however bootleg copies of the novela on DVD.

International release

Country Network(s) Series premiere Series finale Title Weekly Time Timeslot
 Brazil (SBT) - Netflix BR) March 5, 2001 September 3, 2001 Café Com Aroma de Mulher Monday to Saturday 20:15
 Colombia Canal A(Now RCN) November 30, 1994 1995 Café, con aroma de mujer Monday to Friday 20:00COL/22:00ARG
 Spain TVE La 1 1997 1998 Café, con aroma de mujer Monday to Friday 21:00ESP/15:00COL/17:00ARG
 Argentina El Trece November 19, 1997 1998 Café, con aroma de mujer Monday to Friday 14:00 ARG/12:00 COL
 Paraguay Canal 13 March 14, 1995 August 5, 1995 Café con aroma de Mujer Monday to Friday 19:00 PAR/ 18:00 COL
 Argentina Canal 9 August 12, 2013 March 28, 2014 Café, con aroma de mujer Monday to Friday 13:30
 Mexico Netflix LA January 6, 2014 present Café, con aroma de mujer Monday to Sunday 24 hours all episodes at 7:00 pm / 10:00 pm (Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Chile) / 8:00 pm (Ecuador, Colombia and Perú)/ 11:00 pm (Uruguay and some local times of Brazil) / 8:30 pm (Venezuela)

Sources

References

  1. 1 2 Anna Marie de la Fuente, Beating the telenovela bushes for another 'Betty' - 'Cafe' may be headed for the U.S., Variety, 19 November 2006
  2. ↑ (in Spanish) Dos estrellas en "Destilando amor",
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