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 special – more meaningful than all the years before!" This is 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 quality losses. That doesn't mean the coffee wasn't good, but that it can be much better."
We're only just at the 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 assessment for a development we've chosen.
Farm in Development
When we started at the Finca Santa Rita two years ago, no processing could be done 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, the work processes on site, the training level of the team, high staff turnover among the pickers, and the climate led to an overall difficult harvest. We lost larger portions of the harvest to the climate and had to accept quality losses. That doesn't mean the coffee wasn't good, but that it can be much better.
We were faced with irregularly picked cherries and bottlenecks in processing. Additionally, due to political tensions, the coffee couldn't leave the country for a long time.
Nevertheless, our coffees performed wonderfully. Benjamin became vice champion in the Swiss Brewers Cup just days after the harvest was completed with a maracaturra with special fermentation.
We noticed in autumn and learned through exchange with others who work with cultivation and roasting that fermentation had stressed some of the coffees quite a bit. It wasn't until much later, in autumn, that some coffees could show their full potential. This is exciting because in 2019 we'll be roasting some coffees earlier and others much later.
Felix competed in the German Barista Championship with three of these coffees. Anyone who had the chance to try the Cheles lot in recent weeks knows what we're talking about. Now the coffees are here! Full of complexity and great mouthfeel. And yet: we had a difficult harvest. We're only just at the beginning of our project in Nicaragua.
Dry Mill, Mill Variedades and Team
In recent months, our Nicaraguan partners have built a new dry mill of their own. Our coffee is dried there as well as coffee from El Arbol. So we've moved one step closer to coffee processing and are learning an incredible amount 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 actually won't taste the best coffees of these varieties for 8 years, since only the second generation of seedlings has perfectly adapted to the soil, region, and microclimate.
Our team is gradually taking shape. The workflows are becoming clearer. The Basel team is more often in Nicaragua and the Nicaraguan team in Basel.
That's why we look optimistically to the future. Because we know that with the quality of our coffees, we're only just at the beginning.
