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DAY 7—BACK TO MEDAN After four days in the Lintong and Sidikalang areas, west of Lake Toba, we were now back in the throbbing city of Medan. We spent the first part of the day visiting Opal Coffee's processing station, roasting facility and warehouse. In total, Opal has 10,000 employees, of which 1,000 work in Medan. Five hundred women hand sort the coffees that come from all over Indonesia, which is processed and made ready for export. Given that the roasting companies the Swedish Barista Team represents have between two and 20 employees, this was quite an impressive facility. The most interesting aspect was revealed at the cupping lab where we finally got to taste the freshly picked coffee from Wahana Estate. On the cupping table we had 10 varieties from Wahana, and three of the cups were of coffees using the traditional processing method we had seen from the Sihombing family in Lintong. The difference was huge. The Wahana Estate coffees were much cleaner and brighter than the others. BARISTA WORKSHOP IN MEDAN The last afternoon in Sumatra, Team Sweden had a barista workshop in one of Opal Coffee's cafés in Medan. About 50 baristas and coffee lovers from all over Indonesia joined the fun. Several even flew two hours from the capital, Jakarta, to be a part of this exchange of coffee knowledge. I grabbed the microphone and with a firm hand divided the participants into four groups, so that Pernilla had a latte art course, Per had a V60 workshop, Anne showed off AeroPress skills (she was also recently a judge at the AeroPress World Cup in Italy!), and I had a how-to-get-perfect-espresso- extractions-every-time workshop. The afternoon ended with a Latte Art Throwdown, and we had three lovely and highly skilled winners that we thrilled with some Swedish coffee schwag! It was the perfect end to an amazing week of fun adventures, serious learning and just plain old good times in Sumatra. All in all, it was an amazing trip, and it was great to hang out for a week with people from all over the world who share the Swedish Team's same level of coffee insanity. On a personal note I have to say that roaming the world with fellow coffee people is just the greatest thing ever. Whether at an NBC competition or on a field trip, a Coffee Common excursion to Scotland, a WBC on the other side of the world in Colombia, or even a simple road trip around Scandinavian coffee roasters, these experiences build community, commitment and just help us all in our pursuit of spreading some more of that coffee lovin'! Sitting now in chilly Stockholm writing these words while the snow is falling outside my window, I can easily say that I long for those coffee adventures in the rainforest of northern Sumatra. 34 barista magazine FIELD REPORT AUSTRALIA SUMATRA