Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/804825
S PA I N COFFEE IS ALL ABOUT CONNECTIONS. Whether it's in the café where local communities come together, or in the fi elds where coffee is grown and processed by farmers, it's this theme that drew me into the rabbit hole of specialty coffee in the fi rst place, and led me to start my ongoing research project called The Nomad Barista. The basis for this trek was to continue my coffee exploration in a lesser-known part of Spain, make connections with innovators in the industry, and show- case nomadic coffee brewing along the way. Though I had done a fair amount of research before my trip specifi c to my route, there wasn't a lot to fi nd online about the areas I would be visiting. As it turned out, personal connections—and a fair amount of luck—would prove more relevant to what became a more exciting and colorful trip than I could have imagined. My fi rst coffee-and-cycling connection for this adventure actual- ly surfaced in December of the previous year, while I was passing through Girona, Spain. I met fellow Canadian and professional cyclist Christian Meier and his wife, Amber, inside their beautiful bike café, La Fabrica. Little did I know at the time that they would become my lead partners in the second chapter of The Nomad Barista, one short year later. H I T T I N G T H E R O A D : C ATA L O N I A They say the fi rst few days of a bike journey can be the hardest, and in my case, the two mid-October days that it took me to get out of Catalo- nia defi nitely put me to the test. By the time I made the 70-kilometer trek and 1,000-meter climb up to my fi rst stop in Igualada, a small town on the edge of Barcelona Province, I was completely famished. Fortunately, a few friends graciously let me use an empty family apartment for the night where I could cook up a mountain of food and get some serious rest for the following morning. This would be the same morning when coffee would have the opportunity to prove to me the true depth of our friendship. With the long roads ahead into northern Spain, where access to good coffee was the biggest unknown, I knew I had to be strategic in packing my travel brew kit. Enter Minipresso, a coffee device literally designed for adventure. After a quick email conversation with the team at Wacaco Ltd. mere weeks before my departure, I found myself with another major collaborator on my project. That morning in Igualada was my fi rst chance to try the brewer on the road. Opening a fresh bag of Nicaraguan coffee from La Fabrica, and playing around a bit with grind size on my hand mill, I squeezed out a few inaugural shots to jump-start my ride, and I was ready to hit the open road. I N Z A R A G O Z A W I T H B O R J A A N D E Z E Q U I E L After three more days of pedaling, leaving Catalonia behind and tra- versing the Monegros Desert, I was pulling up on Zaragoza just as the dismal, late-October skies were considering whether or not to dump on me. Fortunately, I had made contact with a couch-surfer earlier in the day who was more than willing to put me up for the night, but the confi rmation was conditional: Jorge wouldn't be available until 11:30 p.m., and it was still just around 4 p.m., so I began searching for a spot in town where I might fi nd a coffee-forward chat about any new and Opposite page, at top: Exploring the beautiful west coast of northern Spain a er the long trek from Barcelona. Below: The Tower of Hercules looming over the Atlantic, preparing for a shi -change with the se ing sun. This page: Pumping tires and Minipressos during a quick roadside tune-up. A gravel puncture can get you down, but coff ee's always there to pick you back up. 31 www.baristamagazine.com