RIMINI, Italy – Finca La Cabaña in San Augustin, Finca el Paraiso in Vereda Cristo Rey, Finca Bellavista, Finca Santana el Bolson and Finca el Mirador, the last three in the municipality of Pitalito.
It is here, on plantations confiscated from drug traffickers, in southern Colombia, where the government has confiscated land from cocaine producers, donating it to small farmers who are now producing excellent coffee, that from 1 to 10 June, the fourth edition of Barista & Farmer will be staged, the only international talent event dedicated to the promotion and culture of top-quality coffee.
Ten of the world’s best baristas will fly to Colombia, to the coffee plantations of the departments of Meta and Huila, to enjoy an experience as real “farmers”, coffee pickers, including hands-on competitions and theoretical lessons in the special Barista Academy. Here, they will learn the latest production techniques and, for the first time, create a truly personalised blend.
Among the new features of the 2018 edition are various activities dedicated to the discovery of Colombian culture through traditional dance, painting and sports lessons, as well as cooking competitions and guided tours.
Barista & Farmer was conceived by Francesco Sanapo, several-times award-winning champion barista, in collaboration with Italian Exhibition Group and SIGEP – International Exhibition of Artisanal Gelato, Pastry, Bakery and Coffee, under the patronage of the SCA – Speciality Coffee Association, with institutional partners IILA – Italian-Latin American Institute, SENA – Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (National Learning Service), Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia and Gobernación del Huila, in partnership with World Coffee Events, Lavazza with the iTierra! project and the support of La Cimbali, Faema, Mumac Academy, Urnex, Genovese Coffee; golden media partners Barista Magazine and Bargiornale; media partner Bean Scene, Cafè Olé, News, Coffee T&I, Coffee Talk, Crema, Espresso Magazine, European Coffee Trip, Roast Magazine.
Among the key words of the new edition, training, competition, research, culture, quality, to which must be added the value of sustainability: Barista & Farmer aims not only to train true ambassadors of “specialty” coffee (of particularly high quality), but also to be a cultural bridge between Colombia, the world’s third largest coffee producer, and Italy. It also aims, through the active involvement of institutional partners, to strengthen the links between the countries of origin and the entire coffee chain.
The lucky finalists, selected from among more than 250 professionals by a panel of judges made up of trade professionals, are: Sara Ricci, 28, Italian, from Pozzuoli; Diego Campos, 27, from Colombia; Iuliia Dziadevych, 25, from the Ukraine; Matija Matijaško, 26, from Croatia; Daniel Munari, 32, from Brazil; Victoria Rovenskaya, 26, from Russia; Vala Stefansdottir, 30, from Iceland; David Lau – Cong Yuan, 23, from China; Rie Hasuda Moore, 36, from Japan; Glenn Bailey, 34, from Australia..
The 10 competitors will have the chance to discover the entire coffee processing cycle, from the bean to the cup, through the use of different technologies, right up to the tasting experience and various consumption opportunities.
“Common characteristics of the chosen plantations are the excellence and quality of the coffee they produce, together with the great passion of the producers who work in full respect of the farmers and their families, the protection of the surrounding area and the environment, say the organizers.
The baristas will enjoy a comprehensive experience in the world of coffee; waking up at dawn to spend the morning in the “finca” (plantation) harvesting the beans, weighing, use of the “depulping machine” and roasting.
These activities will be accompanied by lessons at the Barista & Farmer Academy, under the direction of expert Alberto Polojac, and led by numerous teachers with international cultural profiles, such as the judges of the World Coffee Events Sonja Grant and Scott Conary, the president of Barista & Farmer Rebecca Atienza, former hostess of the first edition of the talent event in Puerto Rico, and the Australian roasting champion, Ben Toovey.
Starting with the training modules of the SCA Coffee Skills Program, topics such as agronomy, botany, raw coffee, roasting, and extraction methods will also be addressed. For the partecipants, it will be a real “marathon” in which different methods will be proposed as alternatives to the classic preparation of natural coffee, washed and honey processed, borrowed for the first time from the world of beer and wine, for example through fermentation with yeasts or aromatization with different herbs, until double fermentation is achieved. The final goal will be to create an own personalized coffee.
Besides work and study, the competitors will also have fun and recreation, with dinners and dances on the plantation, games, theme competitions and itineraries, all dedicated to the discovery of traditions and local beauty.
For the entire duration of the talent event, a number of Meta producers will follow the operations. In Meta, one of Colombia’s 32 largest coffee producing departments, the Lavazza Foundation is active with sustainability projects aimed at the community of farmers and their families.
Lavazza supports Barista & Farmer with the global ¡Tierra! project which has involved, through the Giuseppe and Pericle Lavazza Foundation NGO, the communities of the Municipality of Mesetas in the department of Meta, a coffee region with a high vocation, located at the foot of the Eastern Cordillera, where because of the armed conflict coffee cultivation has not been practiced for a long time. With the end of the FARC conflict, since 2013 families of farmers have received from the government land previously used for illegal crops, with the aim of making plantations flourish.
“The Lavazza Foundation project, developed in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance NGO,” says Michele Cannone, Head of Food Service Marketing at Lavazza, “has helped over one hundred Colombian farming families to restore coffee plantations after the guerrilla period, creating sustainable working conditions and improving coffee quality and plantation productivity through sustainable cultivation standards.
In just a short time, it has been possible to produce top-quality coffee for the Lavazza ¡Tierra! Colombia product, which comes from 100% sustainable agriculture certified by Rainforest Alliance, an international organization that promotes the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices for the protection of the environment and which ensures farmers have decent living conditions. ¡Tierra! Colombia rides the current trends in the world of coffee: sustainability and attention to origin and to the preparation of products.
The Program
The competitors will arrive in Bogotá, from where they will fly to Pitalito: it is here, in the Barista House of SENA Parque, that the participants will stay for the entire duration of the program. On Friday 1 June the talent event will start with an opening ceremony in which the local authorities will be taking part. Afterwards, the participants will be transferred to Finca la Cabaña, where the first plantation competitions will be staged, with afternoon lessons in the Barista Academy. During the first lesson, the baristas will discover the point of view of the producing countries through the testimonies of local experts, who will address issues such as the difficulties and innovations for a Farm 2.0, the climatic and environmental challenges, illustrating the botanical varieties of Colombian coffee. In the evening, the competitors will try their hand at one of the new features of this edition with lessons of Sanjunaero, the traditional Colombian dance.
On Saturday 2 June, transfer to Finca Bellavista to spend the morning working on the plantation. In the afternoon during the Academy, the baristas will be engaged in espresso classes held by Mumac Academy and Cimbali and lessons on cleaning and maintenance by Urnex. The day will end with lessons of Chivas, the local painting style.
Sunday, 3 June, rest from work in the finca. The whole day will be dedicated to visiting the Archaeological Park of San Augustin, a famous example of pre-Columbian architecture surrounded by coffee plantations, with plenty of horse riding. Monday, 4 June, destination Finca Santa Ana, with harvesting and weighing competitions in the morning. The afternoon Academy lesson will be dedicated to roasting with an intermediate level course, both theoretical and hands-on, under the guidance of the Australian roasting champion, Ben Toovey (of the Genovese Coffee). From 9 pm evening dancing with Sanjunaero lessons.
Tuesday, 5 June, transfer to Finca Paraiso for the usual coffee harvesting. In the afternoon, a lesson held by Alberto Polojac on the sensory world of coffee: how to approach a tasting, what is the right terminology, what are the evaluation criteria.
Wednesday 6 June after the harvesting and weighing competitions at Finca El Mirador the day continues with Barista Academy lessons on the coffee processing methods, from washed to natural, to discover many different and innovative methods and understand how they affect the flavour of the coffee in the cup.
In the afternoon shopping for local products at the central market of Pitalito followed by a cooking competition. During the day, the competitors can try Tejo, the Colombian national sport, also known as Turmeque, a sport of indigenous origin which consists in hitting a target containing gunpowder with a metal disc, throwing it from a distance of 20 m.
On Thursday, 7 June, the baristas will attend an ad hoc session on Meta sustainability projects and a cupping of coffees from this area and from Lavazza projects; also on this date and again on 8 June, the SCA – Speciality Coffee Association exams will be held, which will enable the baristas to obtain the “Intermediate Roasting” diploma. After the exams return by plane to Bogota; the following day visit to the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros and tour of the cafes of Bogotà.
The adventure will end on 10 June with a final flavour sensory competition and the presentation of prizes to the winners, with a tasting of the new blend created during the talent event.
The participants will be filmed by video cameras and the films will be shown on www.baristafarmer.com and on the talent event social channels.
Colombian Coffees
Competitors will have the opportunity to see and pick many different varieties of coffee. Among these, the Castillo and Colombia, created ad hoc in a laboratory to combat the Roya, also called “leaf rust”, a fungus which strikes the coffee leaf and is capable of destroying entire plantations. Thanks to these new varieties it has been possible to save many plantations and companies that would otherwise have been forced to close.
Another variety is Caturra, the most widespread type in Colombia; in recent years, this is the variety that has suffered most from leaf rust attack, but several growers have decided not to abandon its production, despite the risk involved, so as not to lose this variety which is the symbol of Cafè de Colombia.
Among the other varieties are also two very rare and precious coffees, the Borbon Rosato, a natural mutation of Borbon which has a pink berry and has a very particular taste, very tropical. And Geicha, which is the most precious coffee in the world, with prices ranging from €600 to €1000 per kilo, the so-called coffee gold.
