Barista Magazine

BAM_DEC 2013 -JAN 2014

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PUERTO RICO knowledge, and he also wanted to have all parts of Italy represented. Finally, he had determined his team of 15 competitors, not one of whom had ever visited a coffee farm before. The Barista & Farmer program is also a competition. The baristas score points by completing various tasks and challenges, like reassembling a dismantled espresso machine, collecting "likes" on Facebook and YouTube for photos taken around the farm, winning a coffee-sack race, cooking a meal with coffee, and of course picking coffee, throughout the week at the farm. It's like Survivor without the backstabbing, and no one ever gets voted off. Rebecca Atienza worked closely with Francesco to bring this program to fruition. Francesco competed with Hacienda San Pedro coffee when he won the Italian Barista Championship and went on to the World Barista Championship (WBC) in 2010. After he had the opportunity to visit the farm, he thought it might be the perfect place to bring other baristas to give them a chance to experience life on a coffee farm. Three years later, that's just what he and Rebecca have done— with the help of a lot of supporters, Francesco will quickly point out. Rebecca arranged the classroom, accommodation, and transport, among other things, and did all of this while also working her family's farm and running two cafés and a roastery in San Juan with her husband, Etienne. Local baristas were invited to the farm to participate in the courses on the day when WBC-certified judge Jose Arreola of 34 barista magazine At le : Edoardo Quarta shows off a ripe coffee cherry. The baristas were unanimous in declaring a newfound respect for the tough and demanding work of coffee picking. Right: Multitime Italian barista champion Francesco Sanopo dreamed up the Barista & Farmer program several years ago and has worked tirelessly to bring it to fruition. Mexico was the featured speaker and discussed preparing for barista contests. "This is no longer just Puerto Rico," he quipped to the students during the class. "You're creating a new culture here. It's now PuertItalia." The Italian and Puerto Rican baristas competed in a latte art throwdown after the day's courses were over, and then, of course, had a party. Without question, Barista & Farmer was an intense week of work and education. It was also fun every step of the way: It's simply impossible to keep Puerto Rican and Italian baristas from enjoying themselves, and when you combine the two cultures, well, the result is always music, laughter, and dancing. One night, the baristas found themselves in the middle of a Puerto Rican tradition called Parranda. Parranda is a Christmastime ritual wherein a group of friends and musicians will go to another friend's house late at night, wake the slumbering inhabitants with loud music, and continue playing until they are invited in and served food and drink. The party then continues to the next house, and so on. The Atienza family arranged a band, gathered some of their friends, and descended on the house where the 15 baristas were sleeping, Casa Barista. The impromptu party was a hit, and based on the baristas' delight with the tradition, the Parranda may

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