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MASTER Reg Barber The Man Behind the Tamper Interview by Sarah Allen There are people who do their jobs for the paycheck—nothing wrong with that. Reg Barber, however, isn't one of them. His lifelong love affair with coffee eventually led him to achieve a prominence that initially surprised the King of Coffee Tampers. He started making tampers for a simple reason: He needed one, and no one else was doing it. In the 18 years since Reg forged his first tamp, he's earned his place in the industry. Why, then, did he travel to Brazil in 2011 with a group of baristas on a trip organized by Café Imports? "If it interests the baristas, it interests me," he said. Now 61, Reg had never visited coffee farms before that trip. Baristas are increasingly involved with origin, so Reg needed to go. It was a magical 10 days. Journeying by van through the southeastern part of the country, Reg and his traveling companions—all of the Regional United States winners, as well as U.S. Champ Pete Licata, and World Barista Champion Alejandro Mendez, along with Café Imports escorts Noah Namowicz and Tim Chapdelaine—were privy to the behind-the-scenes stories in many of Brazil's most famous farms. Also on the trip: Reg's good friend Gianni Cassatini of Nuova Simonelli, who has been as vocal and visible a supporter of baristas as Reg himself. Watching Reg encounter his first coffee cherry was one of the most special moments of the trip, Pete recalls. "Reg always has a camera around his neck, he's always recording everything going on around him," Pete says. "But he couldn't focus on anything other than that branch full of beautiful cherries when he first saw it. He was mesmerized. And then he remembered himself, picked up his camera, and www.baristamagazine.com 75