Barista Magazine

FEB-MAR 2015

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wholesale customers alike can meet the producer and hear their story. This to me seems much more meaningful than one or two of us from Sweet Bloom traveling to origin and creating memories and stories to tell from our limited perspective. I'm super excited to say that our first planned producer visit is Edwin Martinez from Finca Vista Hermosa in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. He'll be visiting in early May. SA: Can you tell us about your relationship with Kapo? AS: Yeah, I met Kapo in Vienna while I was competing in the World Brewers Cup [in 2012]. He was a volunteer for the competition and was soaking in all things competition related. I had a few conversations with him and shared with him some of my competition coffee, a Gesha from the farm Cerro Azul in Colombia. Much to my surprise, when I returned to the States, Kapo started ordering coffee from Ceremony for his café, the Cupping Room, which he had started a year earlier. Soon after I announced my plans for Sweet Bloom, he wrote to tell me that he wanted to buy from us and that he wanted me to roast his competition coffee. I am very proud of the fact that Sweet Bloom's first account was the Cupping Room. I will always be grateful to Kapo for believing in us. We started working in earnest about this time last year [early January] for his competition coffee. The timing and planning involved in finding a coffee that will work well in the WBC is daunting to say the least. We considered many options and initially settled on the rare variety Sudan Rume, grown by Café Granja La Esperanza, the same producer who owns Cerro Azul. As the competition approached, Kapo began to think that a coffee from Kenya would work better with his rou- tine. So we worked hard to find a Kenya that would shine. And we did! Much to our dismay, the coffee was held up in customs and no amount of begging or explaining sped its release. So with three weeks before the comp, Kapo made the choice to not wait any longer for the Kenya and to go with our plan-C coffee, the Gesha from Cerro Azul. Fortunately, we had already purchased some of this coffee as a backup. The fact that Kapo was able to adjust his script and routine to accom- modate a new coffee in such a short time and present it so well still amazes me. Getting the coffee to him was definitely challenging and costly. Sweet Bloom was so young as a business that I hadn't estab- lished any special shipping rates. And many of the shipments were expedited. I learned a lot very quickly about international shipping, and thankfully all of the shipments made it to Hong Kong safely, although Kapo had to delay his trip to Rimini [Italy, where the WBC was being held] a few days to receive the final shipments. I think in the end we sent around 30 pounds of Cerro Azul with different roast dates and sev- eral slightly different roast profiles… We are now working on a coffee for Kapo's barista, Dawn Chan, who recently won the 2014 Hong Kong Barista Championship and will be competing in the 2015 WBC. SA: Finally, Andy, can you tell us about how the coffee scene in Colorado is growing? AS: I'm so glad you asked about Colorado! We have been warmly wel- comed here and I am very grateful. Colorado is becoming a great destination for specialty coffee in the U.S.A. From Fort Collins to the Springs, people are really taking craft coffee seriously. The scene is vibrant but definitely more relaxed and community-oriented than out East. Competition is strong, but so is collaboration, helping each other out and building each other up. It's exciting to be part of what is going on here. 65 www.baristamagazine.com

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