Barista & Farmer Honduras – Season 2 Participants Announced
200 baristas entered – 10 were chosen
Following last year’s inaugural Barista & Farmer event in Puerto Rico, the founders and organizers wanted to come back in a big way. They found new location, Honduras, and a new twist to select the participants. They opened up the application process to anyone in the world (the prior year featured only Italian baristas) and had the public vote the participants in.
The winners were just announced at the huge coffee and food trade fair Sigep in Rimini, Italy. The selected baristas will participate from February 1-10 in Copan, Honduras. For ten days the baristas will live as coffee producers. In Puerto Rico, that meant rising before the sun to work in the fields harvesting coffee for hours at a time. (The baristas ended up picking and processing more than 1 ton of cherry.) Then they spent the afternoons working on barista skills and coffee knowledge. And of course they’ll be filmed the whole time. You’ll be able to watch the action on www.baristafarmer.com. Following the event, a documentary will be made from the footage.
From the Barista & Farmer Honduras press release:
The format is based on an idea by Francesco Sanapo, multi award-winning champion barista, in collaboration with Rimini Fiera and SIGEP – International Exhibition of artisan Gelato, Confectionery and Bakery production, and with the patronage of the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) as a valid initiative for the International Development Committee (IDC).
The selected baristas compete on a points basis; the winner will participate in the production of the 2016 edition. The contestants will work on the coffee farms that supply quality coffee worldwide as the pickers who harvest the coffee, will get up at dawn and spend the morning on the plantation, picking the beans. The participants will follow all the stages in the processing of the product: from the harvest, through the use of the various technologies to the experience of tasting and the opportunities of consumption, taking part in a competition involving every stage of the life and processing of coffee.
The 10 baristas selected for Barista & Farmer Honduras come from all over the globe, and have a wide variety of background and experience with specialty coffee. They are:
Bogdan Prokopchuk a 21-year-0ld barista from Double B Coffee and Tea coffee bar chain in Moscow, Russia.
Julien Latil, from Annecy, France (36), about to open in a café with coffee roasting, specialized in quality products, after 10 years spent as an insurance agent.
Agustina Romà n (24) from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Argentine barista champion of 2013.
Angelica Madrigal Garcia (30) from Colombia. She holds a Master’s degree in coffee economy and science and a job with the coffee growers Cooperative of Antioquia.
Deborah Cesanelli (34) from Morrovalle (Macerata), Italy, a barista with a passion for training, whose hobbies are photography and travel.
Sandro Bonacchi (37) from Pistoia, Italy owner of Torrefazione Oriental Caffè, a family business since 1955.
Patrick Sinapi (38) from Latina, Italy, the owner of Bix Café.
Stephany Dávila (29) journalist and coffee buff, her parents are producers in southeast Guatemala, in the Santa Rosa region.
Panuwat Yoosakda, aka œMangooo (24), born and raised in Chiang Mai (Thailand), head barista and assistant roaster with Cuperus Koffiebranderij in Antwerp, Belgium where he’s lived since 2012 with his wife.
And Australian Julian Dammanhayn who works for Genovese Specialty Coffee in Melbourne.
You can watch all of the baristas videos here.
Again from the press release:
Francesco Sanapo says, œThe talent show lets the world see the passion growers and baristas have for their work. Baristas have the job, privilege and responsibility of promoting the real value of coffee, with passion and knowledge, with end consumers; at the same time, the format shows farmers’ hard work, commitment and passion and all their dedication to the production of high quality coffee.
Rebecca Atienza, President of Barista & Farmer and owner of the Hacienda San Pedro coffee plantation in Puerto Rico, where the talent show was held in 2013, comments, œThe first edition was fantastic, since the format contributes to both the training of the contestants and increasing the professionalism of all the companies involved, as well as creating greater awareness with spectators, who become an integral part of the event via the social networks.
