Felix Hohlmann is the German Vice Barista Champion
Another silver medal goes to Basel to the Kaffeemacher and Felix Hohlmann. Vice Barista Champion in Germany – what a milestone! Following his runner-up titles in both the Barista and Roasting disciplines in Switzerland in 2018, he has now secured his first medal in Germany.
Coffee from Santa Rita
"This year was special – more significant than any year before!" That's how Felix sums up his feelings about taking second place. "I used 3 coffees from our small farm in Nicaragua, Finca Santa Rita – part of our first harvest from there. We lost a large part of the harvest to the climate and had to accept losses in quality. That doesn't mean the coffee wasn't good, but it means it can be much better."
We are just at the very beginning with our farm, and so we are incredibly proud of what we have already achieved. When you limit your choices for championship coffees, your perspective on every ranking changes. It becomes a status assessment for the development path we have chosen.
Farm in development
When we joined Finca Santa Rita two years ago, it wasn't possible to process coffee on-site. The farm was completely overgrown and in poor condition.
Even before the first harvest, we were able to renovate the wet mill. However, local workflows, the training level of the team, high turnover among the picking staff, and the climate led to an overall difficult harvest. We lost larger parts of the crop to the climate and had to accept losses in quality. That doesn't mean the coffee isn't or wasn't good, but that it can be much better.
We were confronted with inconsistently picked cherries and bottlenecks in processing. Additionally, the coffee could not leave the country for a long time due to political tensions.
Nevertheless, our coffees performed wonderfully. Just a few days after the harvest concluded, Benjamin became runner-up in the Swiss Brewers Cup with a Maracaturra using special fermentation.
In the autumn, while exchanging ideas with others involved in cultivation and roasting, we realized that the fermentation had sometimes stressed the coffees quite a bit. It wasn't until much later, in the autumn, that some coffees were able to show their full potential. This is exciting because in 2019 we will roast some coffees earlier and others significantly later.
Felix competed in the German Barista Championship with three of these coffees. Anyone who had the chance to try the Cheles lot in the last few weeks knows what we are talking about. Now the coffees are here! Full of complexity and a great mouthfeel. And yet: we had a difficult harvest. We are at the very beginning of our project in Nicaragua.
Dry Mill, Mill Variedades and team
In recent months, our Nicaraguan partners have built a new, independent dry mill. Our coffee is dried there just like the coffee from El Arbol. We have moved one step closer to the processing of the coffee and are learning an incredible amount through the exchange with our partner farm.
This year, 13 varieties were planted in small lots at Mill Variedades. It takes the patience of 3 to 4 years until the first harvest. We will effectively only be able to taste the best coffees from these varieties in 8 years, as it takes that long for the second generation of seedlings to adapt perfectly to the soil, the region, and the microclimate.
Our team is slowly taking shape. The workflows are becoming clearer. The Basel team is in Nicaragua more often, and the Nicaraguan team visits Basel.
That is why we are looking to the future with optimism. Because we know that we are only at the very beginning when it comes to the quality of our coffees.
