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COS TA R IC A THE SECOND ANNUAL Café Imports origin trip for barista champs rolled through the verdant mountains, beautiful farms, and remarkable mills of Costa Rica for a week in early March before wiping out on the beach with a couple days of surfing, swimming, and zip-lining. Each winner of the regional United States Barista Championship (USBC) competitions from the 2012 cycle joined the USBC Champion and World Barista Champion (WBC) for an epic journey to one of the most inviting locales in Central America—not just on Café Imports' dime, but with expert educators accompanying them to make the experience all the richer. The champion baristas brought different backgrounds, perspectives, and previous origin experiences to Costa Rica, but common threads connected them all: professionalism, curiosity, and a heaping helping of hilariousness. They instantly bonded over a welcome meal of pizza and drinks on the first night in San José and formed a roving squad of all-star coffee ambassadors. The team included: Lorenzo Perkins, South Central Champion from Cuvee Coffee in Austin, Texas; Ryan Knapp, North Central Champion from Madcap Coffee in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Southeast Champion Lindsey Kiser from Peregrine Espresso in Washington, D.C.; Southwest Champion Jared Truby from Verve Coffee in Santa Cruz, Calif.; Northwest Champion Devin Chapman from Coava Coffee in Portland, Ore.; Northeast and USBC Champion Katie Carguilo from Counter Culture Coffee in New York; and WBC Champion Raul Rodas from Guatemala City, Guatemala. They joined Piero Cristiani and Noah Namowicz from Café Imports. Early on Monday, March 4, the group clambered aboard what would be their chariot for the next four days: a sweet white Toyota minibus dubbed the "Coaster Rican" and piloted by the indefatigable and good-natured Alexander. And just like that, they were off on a quest for adventure and education. The first stop of the trip brought the baristas to Cicafé, a research The Café Imports Barista Origin Trip brought the U.S. Regional Champions plus the U.S. National Champion and World Barista Champion on a tour through Costa Rica. Here the baristas pose with the West Valley coffee farmers the Aguilera Brothers and their families. farm run by Icafé, the national coffee organization of Costa Rica. After a round of introductions, the baristas were shown the facility. Jared Truby immediately recognized the drying beds as the site of a challenge from a previous season of the TV show The Amazing Race, and indeed, the barista champions were to participate in their own version of a six-step roadblock. They were split into three different teams, and were joined by local Tica baristas and coffee workers. (Tica is the local nickname for Costa Ricans.) Then they raced through the facility to pack bags of dirt for seedlings, rake drying coffee, and blind cup and select competition coffee, which they then used to pull shots of espresso before presenting them to a slate of judges. As the bus headed from site to site, Noah and Piero gave brief lectures about the coffee industry in Costa Rica and took questions. The harvest, which the trip was originally timed to coincide with, had already occurred for the most part; the highest-elevation farms, were the only exceptions. Piero said the normal harvest season lasted for 8 to 12 weeks, but this year, "it was a mad rush," as everything seemed to ripen at the same time. Almost all picking was done within a four-week period. A lack of space on drying beds for all of the coffee required that most mills make extensive use of guardiola dryers. Though they are common in mills in Costa Rica, drying coffee in them requires a delicate balance. "As with any foodstuff," Noah said, "drying coffee high and fast is very different from slow and even." Another challenge with using guardiola drying is the fact that most of them are fired by burning wood. Costa Rica as a nation is incredibly devoted to sustainability; Compost and recycling bins are everywhere and mills, for example, universally use very low amounts of water in their processing. Some of the most forward-thinking mills are moving toward www.baristamagazine.com 29