I was introduced to coffee competitions when I was a little girl. It is something that has helped me appreciate the beauty of coffee and its community. What I love the most, is how art, science and human interactions can make coffee something absolutely magical. What makes a coffee even more magical is when it is treated by a true champion.
Champions that know what it’s all about
The US Coffee Championships were held last weekend in Orange County, which consisted of the US Barista Championships, Brewer’s Cup and qualifiers for Coffee in Good Spirits, Cup Tasters and Roaster Champs. The floor was completely swept by Onyx Coffee Lab whose kick-ass baristas, Andrea Allen and Elika Liftee, got first place in the Barista Championship and Brewer’s Cup respectively. (I personally saw Andrea competing in the 2018 Coffee Champs in the Specialty Coffee Expo in Seattle and have been a fan ever since.)
I want to congratulate the winners, for their hard work, perseverance and for their admirable passion for coffee. But there’s someone else I want to congratulate…
Let’s meet the Producers
Andrea Allen used two coffees in her presentation, and talked a lot about the essential role of a barista in an industry that is hurting and that sometimes seems helpless. In this role, it is so important to transmit the silent-but-beautiful stories of producers to end-consumers. I went out of my way to research about the producers of La Inmaculada and Cerro Azul, and to learn about their history and years of hard work.
Inmaculada Coffee
Home to some of the most rare coffees, these farms belong to the Holguin family in Colombia. The family has years of experience in agriculture, especially in sugar cane, but it wasn’t until 2010 that they decided to go on the wild journey of growing coffee with only 5 hectares. This now includes La Inmaculada Farm where the famous Eugenoides varietal grows.
Ten years later, the family owns more than 50 hectares of coffee and has accomplished the recognition of some of the best and most quality-driven coffee roasters in the world. They are also responsible for growing, nurturing and processing many coffees that have become either special editions or used for top-notch competitions like national and world Barista Championships.
Café Granja La Esperanza
Rigoberto Herrera isresponsible for the amazing turnouts at Granja La Esperanza, 5 farms that have belonged to their family since the 1940's. In the last decade, Rigoberto and his brother Luis have focused on producing specialty coffee, and that is how they have become role models to other producers, and winners of various awards.
The coffee that was used by Andrea was the Gesha from Cerro Azul. This farm is planted only with that varietal, because it has the perfect micro climate for the plants to thrive and produce the best beans. This example of hard work and specialization is admirable, and explains why the Herreras’ coffees are winning one award after the other.
These are amazing stories about real, hard-working people. These are the stories that can’t fit into a 15 minute presentation. These are also the stories of those in the beginning of the coffee value chain, who are definitely not going through the best time. But, these are the stories of people who persevere so much that their coffees are exported, sold in specialty coffee shops, used for competitions and brewed by the best of the best baristas.
So, Who’s the real Champion?
Barista competitions are amazing. It is admirable how a great coffee can be maneuvered and transformed into even greater drinks. Since I can remember, the competitions require the barista to talk about the coffee itself, about the producers and the farms where the coffee was sourced. It not only adds a sentimental factor to their presentation, but shows how invested the barista is in the story behind what they are serving.
If this is a requirement in a competition that looks for the ‘best barista’, it is something that every barista should do all the time. Whether they’re in front of judges or customers. That makes them the real champions!… apart from the producers.
