Felix Hohlmann is German Vice Barista Champion
Another silver medal goes to Basel to the coffee makers and Felix Hohlmann. Vice Barista Champion in Germany, what an achievement! Following his vice championship title in the Barista and Roasting disciplines in Switzerland in 2018, this is now his first medal in Germany.
Coffee from Santa Rita
"This year was particularly special – more significant than all the years before!" That's how Felix sums up his feelings about second place. "I used 3 coffees from our small farm in Nicaragua, the Finca Santa Rita – part of our first harvest from there. We lost a large portion of the harvest to the climate and had to accept losses in quality. That doesn't mean the coffee wasn't good, but that it can be much better."
We're just at the very beginning with our farm and so we're incredibly proud of what we've already achieved. When you limit yourself in the selection of championship coffees, your perspective on every placement changes. It's a status indicator for a development path we've chosen.
Farm in Development
When we took over Finca Santa Rita two years ago, no processing could be done on site. The farm was completely overplanted and in poor condition.
Before the first harvest, we were able to renovate the Wet Mill. However, the work processes on site, the training level of the team, high turnover among picking staff, and the climate all led to a difficult overall harvest. We lost larger portions of the harvest 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 irregularly picked cherries and processing bottlenecks. Additionally, the coffee couldn't leave the country for a long time due to political tensions.
Nevertheless, our coffees performed wonderfully. Just a few days after harvest completion, Benjamin became Vice Champion in the Swiss Brewers Cup with a Maracaturra with special fermentation.
In the fall we noticed, and learned through exchanges with others working with cultivation and roasting, that the fermentation had stressed some of the coffees quite a bit. Only much later, in the fall, could some coffees show their full potential. This is exciting because in 2019 we'll roast some coffees earlier and others much later.
With three of these coffees, Felix competed at the German Barista Championship. Anyone who had the chance to taste the Lot Cheles in recent weeks knows what we're talking about. Now the coffees are here! Full of complexity and wonderful mouthfeel. And yet: we had a difficult harvest. We're just at the very beginning of our project in Nicaragua.
Dry Mill, Mill Variedades and Team
In recent months, our Nicaraguan partners built a new, dedicated Dry Mill. Our coffee is dried there, as is the coffee from El Arbol. So we've moved one step closer to coffee processing and are learning incredibly much through our 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'll actually only taste the best coffees of these varieties in 8 years, since only the second generation of seedlings will have perfectly adapted to the soil, region, and microclimate.
Our team is gradually building up. The processes are becoming clearer. The Basel team is more often in Nicaragua and the Nicaraguan team in Basel.
That's why we're looking ahead optimistically. Because we know that we're just at the very beginning with the quality of our coffees.
