Barista Magazine

JUN-JUL 2014

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IN ONE OF THE INDELIBLE IMAGES of the World Barista Championship (WBC) from last year in Melbourne, Australia, Italian barista champion Francesco Sanapo claps enthusiastically, salutes the crowd with a beaming smile, and then holds his trophy proudly above his head as the audience goes wild. He came in sixth place, but in that moment his unmistakable ebullition, obvious pride, and genuine joy brought the hundreds of spectators to their feet. Where other competitors may feel disappointed hearing their name called first at the finalists' announcement, Francesco absolutely did not. "Ranking sixth," he says, "was like a dream, something that I've been looking to achieve since I entered my very first competition, so accomplishing it meant to me to finally fulfill the goal that I wanted to reach." Personal triumph aside, making it to the final round of the 2013 WBC stood for something bigger. "It was also important for my country," he says, "because [Italy] has a very important [coffee] his - tory, but in the last 10 years, an Italian [had] never reached the WBC finals. To reach it was an important message for all the young baris - tas in Italy who could witness the fact that you could actually arrive somewhere if you dedicate yourself to it. I grew up with people telling me that the world final was something very remote for an Italian." Francesco may be the perfect representative for the modern Italian coffee culture. He was born and raised in the small town of Specchia, located in the far south of the country in the Apulia region near the tip of the heel in Italy's geographic boot. From a young age, like many of his fellow countrymen, Francesco has found his life entwined with coffee. "I will always remember the coffee that my mom used to prepare for me, and bring to me in bed every morning before going to school," he recalls. "[It was] prepared with an Italian moka pot. I remember the smell of that beverage that used to give me energy to begin the day. That smell and that rite have been with me [since then]. Even today, when I go back home, my mom cuddles me offering me coffee and, in that moment, you don't really [worry about] the quality of it. "I think that in Italy this is pretty common, because people are born with coffee, and even though we don't grow it, coffee is a funda - mental part of our culture. It's a basic action when you meet someone, or when you visit someone or vice versa. It's a cultural routine." As the country that invented so much of modern coffee terminolo - gy and technology turns its attention in the 21st century to specialty coffee, Francesco has fully embraced the challenge—in fact, he's leading the charge. "When I started to work in close contact with the coffee community and the world of coffee, the concept of specialty coffee [in Italy] was seriously limited," he says. "Only a few people were interested in it. In Italy, being a barista (since coffee is a tradition) is usually a fall - back choice, the one you choose when you don't have better options. Only now I'm finally beginning to see a change, thanks to the new generations… and this is what makes the whole market grow." The 35-year-old three-time Italian barista champion has carved out a niche for himself in the global specialty-coffee community, and has become a fixture of the Italian coffee society. He is expressive, wel - coming, quick with a smile or a joke, and makes friends everywhere he goes. He also has an insatiable desire for learning, specifically about coffee, and he admits that it came about somewhat unexpect - edly. "After graduating, I simply began to work as a barista, in part because I had been guided by my family, and in part because I wanted to do this," he says. "I began with the summer seasons in Salento [in southern Italy]. Then after I relocated in Florence, I opened a caféteria in the historic center of the city with my brother." The first café was successful, so then he opened a second one, but even then he hadn't really started to explore coffee on a deeper level. "I was [using] knowledge given to me [by experienced baristas] because I never really attended classes nor had I tried to do further research," he explains. "When I sold this second cafeteria, having more free time, I finally began to study. I focused on my education, and that's when a bell rang in me, a bell that changed my life." It's not surprising that the affable Francesco's primary reason for becoming a barista was simply the opportunity to interact with customers. "But after attending classes, I loved this job because I loved the product, and I'm sincerely convinced that you can only love coffee if you [try to] know it 100 percent," he says. "When I started to study, I understood that my knowledge of the raw product was nearly zero. Moreover, I was making the same mistakes that I inherited from other baristas that I met on my way. Studying gave me the right answers and revealed that I hadn't enough knowledge. Studying has unleashed in me an extreme passion for coffee. It helped grow my love for it because it let me understand it really well." Around the same time, he also found himself drawn to competition, but once again he realized that he still had much to learn. "The first time I got interested into barista competitions was in 2008," he says. "I approached the competition with curiosity, feeling confident about myself, and I ended up last. Therefore my perspective wasn't real, and the letdown that came from it was a real boost to understanding my limits, and I also realized that there were many baristas way more prepared than me." He remembers that first competition, and his last-place finish, perfectly clearly. "I presented a commercial blend that I didn't have any info about apart from the fact that it was 100-percent Arabica," he says. "As the competition theme, I talked about my bar as if it was a theatrical stage, where the main character was the coffee, and I was the actor. If I think about it now, I smile about it, but it's true. And that was my first approach to the competition." Determined and driven, Francesco wouldn't let his disappointing finish deter him from competing again. "In 2009, I joined in again with a different spirit," he says. "Honestly, I'm very competitive, because I always wanted to be the best or, at least, to rank in the top positions. I have always been like that, since I was a child, whether it was a football game, any other sport, or even the music, something that I have spent some years on. When I had my reggae band, I always tried to get in every competition. "I understood that things had to be done in a different way," he con - tinues. "For the first time in an Italian championship, a blend made up of five different countries of origin (Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, and Ethiopia) was presented, by me. I started to give a precise identity to each coffee I was using and a whole idea of why I was blending them together. My personal growth helped dramatical - ly, and I [came in] second, only half a point away from the first place." That close finish and Francesco's natural competitive spirit drove him to compete again the following year. "[In 2010] I brought into the competition, for the first time for an Italian barista, the direct-trade concept which was born in me from my need to know even more [about] the world of coffee," he says. "Thanks to the social networks and to the modern technologies, I had been able to get in touch with Puerto Rican [coffee farmer] Rebecca Atienza who let me use her coffee. Moreover, getting in touch with her gave me the possibility to gather all the necessary info regarding the botanical variety, the processing phase, and the collecting time of the coffee. For the first 62 barista magazine B o o k 4 7 - 9 2 . i n d d 6 2 Book 47-92.indd 62 5 / 1 5 / 1 4 1 0 : 4 4 P M 5/15/14 10:44 PM

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