RIMINI, Italy – Applications to take part in the new Barista & Farmer, the only international talent show promoting the production and sale of quality coffee, open today. The fourth event celebrating the culture and excellence of coffee worldwide is to take place in February 2018 in Colombia, the world’s third largest coffee producer.
The announcement was made yesterday during a press event held at Sigep 2017 in Rimini, Italy (PICTURE).
At the event ten of the world’s top baristas, selected from among the many applicants by a panel of industry professionals, will have the opportunity to experience life for ten days as coffee manufacturers in a coffee-producing country.
The format was devised by Francesco Sanapo, multi-award-winning champion barista, in association with the Italian Exhibition Group and SIGEP – International Exhibition of Artisan Gelato, Confectionery, Pastry and Bakery Production, with the patronage of the Speciality Coffee Association (SCA).
The new talent show has added sustainability to its values of education and competition. And after the successful 2016 event hosted by Brazil (the first being held in in Porto Rico in 2013 and the second in Honduras in 2015), Lavazza will be among the main partners and sponsors of the event for the second time running.
On the theme of what it means to “make a sustainable coffee”, Lavazza will play a major role in the ¡Tierra! Project developed in 2002 in conjunction with the charity the Rainforest Alliance, which aims to improve the social, environmental conditions and production techniques of some coffee producing communities.
One of these is Brazilian Lambarì, which hosted the last Barista & Farmer event won by Nikolaos Kanakaris, a 32-year old Greek barista from Athens.
The fourth event promises new content and new features
The participants in Barista & Farmer, all very high-level, will be involved in a comprehensive project that starts with the coffee plantation harvests, includes all the stages of coffee production and the range of technologies used and ends with coffee tasting opportunities and a look at the variety of ways coffee is enjoyed.
They will attend the Barista & Farmer Academy, a special multidisciplinary school where they will follow SCA training modules on agronomy, botanics, raw coffee, coffee roasting and coffee extraction under the direction of Alberto Polojac, along with a large number of other experts with considerable international experience. Work and learning will be interspersed with opportunities for fun and relaxation, with themed games and competitions.
The finalists will be filmed and the videos will be broadcast on www.baristafarmer.com and the talent show’s social networks.
A documentary will be made about the event (each year the show is filmed in a different artistic style. See the event’s YouTube channel for the latest documentary).
This will illustrate a new approach to the world of coffee, the aim being to disseminate the increasingly global coffee culture (coffee is the second most common drink after water).
To apply to take part and receive event updates go to the website www.baristafarmer.com. At Sigep, from 25 January at Rimini Fiera, potential applicants can leave their video applications explaining why they wish to take part at the South Hall.
“Coffee is becoming more and more of a core business in the Sigep’s mission- explains Patrizia Cecchi, Italian Exhibitions Director of IEG Rimini fair – as highlighted by its inclusion in the event payoff. The fair is now the reference point that values the industry, both in Italy and worldwide, and the consolidated union with Barista & Farmer and all of its background of creativity, passion and professionalism is there to testify it.”
“We are delighted to have chosen Colombia, a country that produces major specialty coffees and is renowned for its innovation and research”, said Rebecca Atienza, president of Barista & Farmer and coffee manufacturer.
“We will be travelling there in February with Francesco Sanapo to choose the farms to be featured in the 2018 event. We are currently completing the selection process, and we have some excellent candidates.
We will also be meeting with the country’s institutions to tell them about the project and receive their support, which is very important for us.
Our goal is to continue raising awareness of the culture of coffee right from the start, so people know what is behind their cup of coffee, i.e. the bean grown by the producers”.
“We are looking for motivated baristas who want to find out all about coffee. Their CV will be important, but they need charisma too”, said the man behind the event, Francesco Sanapo.
“In order to gain the most from this experience, participants will have to be willing to get involved and to improve their knowledge of coffee. The 2018 event will be even more international.
To all the baristas I would say, ‘Are you humble, do you have team spirit, are you open to intercultural exchange and raring to go? Then you are ready to be the winner of Barista & Farmer!”
“The frontline particicipation for the second year in a row in a successful talent like Barista & Farmer – says Michele Cannone, Head of Food Service Marketing of Lavazza – confirms the commitment of the company in the diffusion of coffe’s culture and sustainability.
Just in Colombia, Fondazione Lavazza is active in the municipalities of Mesetas, Lajanias and San Juan de Arama with important projects to bring to the coffee producers the tools to manage the effects of the climate change and to reintegrate the families of producers in territories that, in the last decades, have been interested by deep social crisis.”
Colombia, the country of origin of the fourth event
Colombia is the world’s third exporter of coffee, and has always played a key role in world coffee production, both because of the excellence of its raw materials and because of the small communities of dedicated and passionate coffee producers who often use high-quality, traditional methods.
According to recent figures from the Comitato Italiano Caffè (Italian Coffee Committee), between December 2015 and November 2016 Colombia 12.5 million bags of green coffee, and between January and September 2016 Italy imported 17.5 million kg (the equivalent of 292,273 sacks) of Columbian green coffee.
The talent show
The ten competitors will rise at dawn and spend the morning at the plantation, taking part in technical challenges such as the picking competition, weighing beans and using the depulping machine – a technical challenge for a process that is normally automated – in order to show them how hard farmers have to work and familiarise them with every stage of the production chain.
Then they will take part in the roasting test and finally the “Coffee Nursery”, where they will create their own personal “mini finca”, selecting the right plant from seed, planting, creating a variety of plants and finally naming the end product.
During the day they will attend the Barista & Farmer Academy, a multidisciplinary school, under the tuition of top coffee professionals.
The training programme will focus on the various components making up the complex coffee industry, and will include theory on subjects such as botanics, agronomy and chemistry applied to coffee production, and sessions on coffee processing methods, comprising roasting, green coffee and sensory science, as well as lessons on espresso coffee and other coffee extraction methods, tasting sessions and field demonstrations featuring practical tests to hone participants’ skills.
To complete the programme, there will be leisure activities, games and themed competitions in the company of the authorities and local people.
These include tours of the cafes and competitions on new tasting opportunities that will compare everyone’s different habits.
