Éxito, Bogota

What to buy here: Colombian Coffee & Fruit juice pulps.

- Go to Colombia and bring back some coffee – duh! The dilemma is choosing what brand. The quality of Juan Valdez coffees is unmatched. Their cafes sprung up seemingly overnight in Bogota not too long ago and soon took over Colombia and beyond. Problem is you can get Juan Valdez coffee even at the Newark airport these days. But if you want authenticity, the coffee that the old timers in Bogotá have sipped for decades, look for Sello Rojo. It’s not as chic, but its as authentic as you can get, tastes pretty much the same though. These coffees include organic, decaffeinated, beans (en grano), store brands and gourmet coffees, costing from around $5 a bag upwards.

- Fresh tropical fruits: they are on every restaurant menu in Colombia whether in juices, breakfasts or desserts. It’s such a pity you can take them back with you. The next best thing? Pick up some fruit juice pulp at the supermarket. These are popular with cooks and homemakers, who have neither time nor patience to make juice straight from the fruit themselves. If you’ve ever cracked open a guanábana (soursop), a bizarre fruit that resembles a dinosaur egg –did they have eggs?), you know that it’s a big gooey mess, and you’ll appreciate these pulps even more. You can impress your friends with that real guanábana juice, lulo, mango or blackberry juice – and make some killer cocktails. As these are packaged fruit products, there is no issue with customs. But make sure they go in your checked baggage, not carry-on. They sell for about a dollar each, but you can get a pack of about a dozen and save more – if you really love them.