Ten baristas, selected from all over the world among more than 200 applications, will compete in Brazil, in the state of San Paolo, from the 3rd of May till the 13th for the third edition of Barista & Farmer, the first and only talent show dedicated to the promotion and the culture of specialty coffee.
For ten days, the finalists will experience the life of a coffee producer in a country of origin, in this case in the famous plantations of the O’Coffee company, the biggest coffee producer of Brazil, located in Pedregulho, in the Alta Mogiana region and at Lambari, in the State of Minas Gerais.
The format is created by Francesco Sanapo, three times italian barista champion, in collaboration with Rimini Fiera and Sigep – the international fair of ice cream-making, pastry-making and handmade bread-making, and with the patronage of Scae, Specialty Coffee Association of Europe, as a valid initiative for the Idc, the International Development Committee.
Lavazza, La Cimbali and Faema, the top brands of Gruppo Cimbali and Mumac Academy, the brand’s academy for coffee machines, are the main sponsors.
The theme of the third edition will be environmental sustainability and the promotion of the coffee supply chain.The participants, all highly qualified and extremely skilled, will be involved in a complete course, that includes the picking phase in the plantation, going through all the steps of the production process, experiencing all the different technologies and, finally, the tasting experience and all of the multiple consumption opportunities.
The ten finalists will wake up at sunrise, spending their morning in the plantations, picking the coffee cherries and, in the afternoon, will attend the classes at the Barista & Farmer Academy, a very special multidisciplinary school where some of the most acclaimed professionists of the field work as teachers.
The contenders will be followed by cameras and the videos will later be broadcast on www.baristafarmer.com and on the social channels of the talent. A documentary of this edition will also be realised, a video which will show a different way of perceiving the coffee world, with the goal of promoting this ever-growing culture (coffee is the second consumed beverage after water).
The baristas chosen for this new edition are: Guido Garavello (Italy) 32 years old; Miguel Angel Vera Fernandez (Venezuela) 36 years old; Jesslyn Evani (Indonesia) 25 years old; Nikolaos Kanakaris (Greece) 31 years old; Olga Kaplina (Russia) 29 years old; Amy Nake Manukyan (Armenia) 26 years old; Evgeni Pinchukov (Belarus) 24 years old; Daniel Rivera (Usa) 30 years old, Agniesza Rojewska (Poland) 27 years old and Rosey Hill (Australia), 45 years old.
The 10 coffee experts will wake up at drawn to spend the morning inside the plantation and face technical challenges such as a picking competition, weighing, use of the depulping machine, a hands-on test involving what is normally an automated process, which underscores the hard work a farmer has to do and sheds light on each step of the production chain.
And again, the roasting test, right up to the Coffee Nursery, the creation of a personal “mini finca” with the selection of the right plant, from seed to planting, crop diversification and naming.
Barista & Farmer is a project of education and competition, unique and innovative. The educational program, which has been implemented this year and is directed by Alberto Polojac, is based on the different subjects which compose the complex coffee’s production chain and includes several Scae modules.
Each day will be distinguished by theoretical lessons on specific subjects like botanics, agronomy and applied chemistry on the field of coffee. Moreover, classes on the coffee production methods, roasting, green & coffee sensory which will be supported by specific lessons about espresso and other coffee extraction methods, tasting sessions, field demonstrations with practical tests aimed at improving the competitor’s skills.
One of the main steps (8-9 May) includes a visit to the plantations of Lambarì, a mountainous region in the state of Minas Gerais (Sul), where producers live in small family communities and share among themselves coffee caring and growing know-how.
Since 2010, the Lambarì community has been involved in the sustainability project ¡Tierra! which the Giuseppe e Pericle Lavazza Onlus Foundation has been developing since 2002 in conjunction with the Rainforest Alliance NGO in order to improve the social and environmental conditions and the production methods of the communities of caficultores of the major coffee-growing countries.
More specifically, the baristas will be able to discover how Lavazza sustainable and top-quality coffee is produced: starting this year, the Turin company is making available in cafés the new blends ¡Tierra! Origins, made from Arabica coffee from the Lambarì community.
On this occasion, the participants will be involved in plantation work and will compete to win the “Best Sustainable Barista Award”.
Work and classes will be joined by fun and leisure time, with games and thematic competitions in collaboration with local autorithies and characters, tours of the historic cafeterias and challenges where coffee is prepared in original ways, to suggest new opportunities of taste and consumption.
After Puerto Rico, in 2013, and Honduras, in 2015, Barista & Farmer choose Brazil for its 2016 edition, the first country in the world for coffee production and, in particular, Santos, the biggest port of South America, located in the state of San Paolo, among the many applications of several countries of origin.
This has become reality thanks to the extraordinary partnership with O’Coffee, one of the biggest coffee producers of Brazil and one of the first brazilian companies to produce specialty coffee. The company, established in 1890, produces some of the best coffees in the world because of its favorable conditions of altitude, climate and temperature. There are six farms who are part of it, for a grand total of four millions coffee trees.
“Barista & Farmer – explains Patrizia Cecchi, business director of Rimini Fiera – had only two editions so far, but it already established itself as a successful and innovative talent show.
Now, with the 2016 edition which will take place in the quintessential land of coffee, which is Brazil, we believe that specialty and quality coffee may receive an additional boost from which the entire production chain will benefit, from the education of professionists in the countries of origin to the promotion of the excellence of companies which produce innovative technologies as well as the glorification of new formats of cafeterias which support conscious consumption models.
Sigep, the leading event in the field, is at the service of companies precisely to stimulate new and growing business opportunities.”
“We are going in the most important country in the world – said Francesco Sanapo – for coffee production. We will succeed in combining high technology with poor agricolture and that will translate into a high level educational experience for the participants.
The baristas have been chosen specifically with different personal prophiles because we want to develop, even more than in the previuous editions of the show, this intercultural exchange in order to let emerge how the coffee is perceived in the different areas of the world.
Moreover, this year the format is even more focused on the education, with – possibily – the most qualified teachers that we ever had.”
