The second half of our trip involved us traveling from Salvador to Sao Paulo and then driving into Pocos De Caldas. This part of the trip was hosted by our wonderful friends at Bourbon Specialty. Pocos De Caldas is a very interesting town that was settled by Italians and Portuguese as people spread outward from Sao Paulo. The European influence is evident while strolling through the city center and taking in the architecture and local Italian cuisine. Pocos De Caldas is a town settled within a gigantic volcanic crater. Our hotel sat inside a huge dormant volcano.




The farms here range from 1100-1400 meters and are supported by nutrient rich volcanic soil. We visited many farms in the region. It was really interesting for the group to get a better understanding of the growing microlot market and how the farmers in the region are supplying it in different ways.


The large and small farms in this region have different approaches to microlot separation, both of which are working for each group. The small farms are picking only the ripest cherries, hand sorting, wet milling through a local or on site wet mill, and patio/raised bed drying.

The large farms, which are also producing some incredible micro lots, had a bit of a different approach; the pickers are strip picking then sorting at the mill or picking ripes and boya (raisin naturals on the tree). We learned from the larger farms that every coffee has a home, especially in a high coffee market like this, so the under-ripes that get picked when stripping are still sold at a fairly good price as commercial coffee. The large farms here will sort the ripe cherries then cup samples of each lot to determine if it is microlot quality and should be kept separate or if it should be blended to create a quality specific lot.


This duality was very interesting to experience first hand. We cupped coffees of both the small and large farms, and each had some equally impressive coffees (some unrested coffee creeping toward 90 points), although they took different approaches to get there. The economies of scale for a small producer requires them to put a high level of labor to the picking. These small producers will often take 5-6 passes on different days on a single tree to get all the ripes, maximize weight as ripe cherries weight more, and get the most money for their large percentage of high quality coffee on a relatively small crop.

The large farms have made a different decision where the best allocation of resources are for their farms. The pickers on the large farms are not as incentivized to pick only ripes, and the farm owner is not as motivated to process only ripes due to shear volume and high market prices. They would rather produce around 25% really high quality microlots through separation on the back end and save money by not having his well trained staff spend quadruple the amount of time picking one area.


Both ways are valid, and both ways allow different sized producers to maximize their profit during a given year while still producing some high quality coffees. In a perfect world would both farms pick only ripes? Maybe, but producers of all sizes must make conscious and well thought out decisions as to where their hard earned money is best invested on their farms. That is not our decision to make for them.


The baristas and the rest of the crew got a ton of experience and gained new perspectives on coffee processing during this part of the trip. Gianni said that the landscape of the regions surrounding Pocos De Caldas reminded him of Sicily. It was a truly remarkable backdrop for the final leg of our trip. We partied for Alejandro and Sarah's double birthday on Saturday, we got behind the bar of a local roaster retailer, and we left Brasil full of both new exciting coffee knowledge and extraordinary amounts of meat. I am still riding high now that I am home from this trip. I am just incredibly grateful that we were able to get the Origin Trip Sponsorship set for the 2011 cycle, and that these amazing guys were the winning baristas. Viva Espresso!

-Noah Namowicz

On September 3^rd, 2011 you are invited to compete and experience the 2^nd Annual Southwest Latte Art Competition held in conjunction with Phoenix Cooks; a culinary experience for food enthusiasts to learn, cook, and taste what Phoenix has to offer.

In addition to experiencing delicious food and wine, attendees will have the opportunity this year to learn about coffees brewed manually from local coffee roasters.

The latte art competition has been expanded this year beyond the Arizona borders to allow for competitors from the entire Southwest to join in on the fun! Thanks to our generous sponsors, 32 competitors will compete head to head for the title of Southwest Latte Art Champion. Beside the title, the winner will walk with a hot $500 and a handsome prize package!

Baristas, sign up to compete and take part in the Southwest Latte Art Competition and Phoenix Cooks. Registration is limited to 32 competitors and we will stop accepting registrations once we reach that mark. We also need baristas willing to help with setup the day before, registration, working the manual brew bar, and clean up. Check out the website at www.swlac.com for more information.

We are halfway through our trip to Brasil as I am writing this blog. For the past 5 days myself, Tim Chapdelaine from Cafe Imports, Sarah Allen from Barista Magazine, Gianni from Nuovo Simonelli, Reg Barber from Reg Barber Enterprises, the six US regional finalists (Sam, Phil, Pete, Michael, Joe, Ryan) and WBC Champion Alejandro Mendez have been traveling throughout the State of Bahia in Brasil.


Our trip began in Salvador, where we met with our hosts Agricafe, and immediately dove headfirst into Brasilian coffee in their lab. Agricafe has an incredibly professional lab in Salvador, where they set up both artificial and natural defect cuppings for us to begin this experience. We were able to first acclimate our palates to some of the common acidities and defects that can be found in coffee. Cupping the different types of acidity, astringency, immature beans, different levels of body, and ferment allowed all people on the trip to fully understand what we are looking for when cupping coffee.


After this cupping, we then cupped 20 excellent coffees from some of the farms we would be visiting during this part of our trip. Brasil is still early in their harvest, so most of these coffees were still very young and had not rested, but excellent none the less.

While on our farm visits we were able to see a wide spectrum of different farm sizes and different processing techniques. We visited some farms that produce over 4 million lbs of coffee annually, and some that produce only around 12,000 lbs. The majority of the farms we saw export a large amount of pulped natural coffee, but most have a mixture of pulped natural, natural, and fully washed. We found out that a properly processed pulped natural coffee can often times allow a farmer to receive nearly double the amount of money he would for a fully washed coffee. We were able to get first hand experience seeing how various farms are processing coffees in different ways, and the challenges that are posed by each technique.

Two of the major challenges for coffee farmers in Brasil are: educating their pickers to pick only ripe cherries and avoiding over-fermentation during processing. Processing pulped natural coffees and natural coffees is an extremely delicate process that requires constant attention to avoid beans over-fermenting. We saw some farms where pickers are not as disciplined as the farm owners would hope they would be, and although the under ripe cherries get sorted out during processing, these farmers are losing even more money than just a quality differential because under ripe cherries weigh 30% less than ripe cherries. Not only are they getting less money for a poorly cupping lot of under ripes, but they also are producing less weight due to the immaturity. This is a challenge. Just as Cafes grow and struggle to maintain quality control with a growing staff of baristas and high turnover, farmers encounter the same issues as they grow and hire more seasonal workers.

Farmers in Bahia are trying to combat this by treating their employees like family and creating a strong culture on their farms. We met farms that provide transportation for their employees, have cafeterias onsite, nice bathrooms, and even one amazing farmer bought motorcycles for all of his full time employees after winning the Cup of Excellence. In the farmer's opinion, these things are so important in motivating employees to execute their vision of high end specialty coffee.


Brasil has a rich agricultural history, and it shows by how meticulously set up many of these farms on our trip were, both big and small. Proper irrigation, fields that are not densely planted, rows of nitrogen fixing trees in between the coffee, and drying patios with parabolic drying covers are only some of the things that really have impressed us while on this trip. Knowledge and information are shared between farmers here for everyone's benefit. Often farmers in Bahia are seperating varietals and even separating lots within each varietal plot based on location on the farm. Agricafe receives samples from many farmers in Bahia and will help them determine which varietals are working best on their land. With trusting partners like Agricafe, these farmers and their coffee have excellent potential for future success.

This has been a very special trip not only because of the farmers we met with, but also having this much barista talent on one trip has proved to be truly remarkable. Everyone is so engaged and hungry for more information. It is easy to see why these barista champions have achieved the level of success they have. We have been totally blown away.


Our nights have been equally as fun here in Brasil. We have had the opportunity to have a few throw downs with Brasilian baristas at their cafes throughout Bahia. Not being able to speak Portuguese has not been a barrier at all while behind the bar. It has been very cool to see our baristas and Brasilian baristas connect over a perfectly prepared drink.


We have eaten more meat than one probably should eat in a 5 year span, and the food does not seem to stop any time soon. We are up for the challenge though...

Our long bus rides and late night conversation have given us a lot of time to talk about the BGA, competitions, and the state of coffee in general. These have been some of my most meaningful memories so far. The bus rides have also given us at Cafe Imports an opportunity to delve deeper into our processing class that we have been teaching on the bus. We learn in detail about all the things that happen between planting a seedling and exporting a bag of coffee, then we all get off the bus and see those these in action. Having this small of a group of engaged coffee professionals has opened the class up to many tangents and discussions both large and small about coffee. It has been extremely informative. The passing of knowledge has been a two way street. Tim and I are learning a lot from the baristas with us and they are taking away a wealth of firsthand coffee origin experiences.

It has been an incredible trip, and we all want to thank Marcus Boni and Laura Lee for helping make the 2011 Barista Origin Trip a reality. Next we are off to Campinas to continue our adventure.

-Noah Namowicz

On June 18^th & 19^th hundreds of coffee lovers flocked to the Seattle Center to celebrate coffee during the first ever Northwest Coffee Festival. The festival’s aim was to unite consumers, baristas, and roasters through tasting and celebrating coffee and it’s importance to the community of Seattle.

Attendees began forming a line in anticipation of the opening of the festival while exhibitors polished up their booths, preparing to interact with the masses. Coffee consumers from all walks of life were given the opportunity to come in contact with brewing equipment and coffee professionals, furthering their knowledge and understanding of coffee.

At the barista showcase bar, attendees had the opportunity to see first hand where coffee flavors come from, as displayed as fruits, citrus, spices, and vegetables on the 3D coffee flavor table. After experiencing and talking about those flavors, participants put their nose to the test in the Aroma Challenge where they sniffed through scents of coffee and tried to match them to the correct descriptor.

With such educational opportunities as manual home brewing, how to pull your own shot, crafting coffee cocktails and milk texturing and latte art, an ample amount of volunteers were needed to ensure the event’s success. Thankfully volunteers showed up en masse, ready and excited to serve the coffee community.

Upon asking an attendee what he specifically wanted to see and learn during the event, he replied, “I’ve been drinking coffee for 35 years; however, you wouldn’t call what I drink coffee. It’s 50% milk and sugar and I’m here today because I want to learn how to enjoy coffee black.” With this information I was able to answer a few questions and point him to the booths that would best serve his coffee curiosity. His deep desire to learn was shared by all attendees and was met with the excitement of volunteers, making it a vibrant high-energy environment throughout the weekend.

Seeing cafes side by side, serving their individual products while letting the conversation lead where the consumer desired was a beautiful display the coffee community. Not simply a product, a company or imposed standards, rather it’s an ongoing commitment to bring the consumer in on the process. Without them, we have no industry.

-Brian Clemens