Barista’s Brazilian Specialty Coffee presentation wins place at World of Coffee Championship
Image: Brazil Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA)
After three disputed days of intense competition at the Brazilian Baristas Championship, Boram Um’s winning Brazilian specialty coffee presentation stole the limelight – landing him a place at the World of Coffee 2023 fair in Athens from 22-24 June. Boram Um used coffee varieties such as Yellow Bourbon, from the UM Coffee e Co farm, owned by his own family, which is located in Serra da Mantiqueira, in the southern region of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The drinks had sensory notes such as tangerine, plum, white flowers, orange floral, and a balanced acidity.
“I am very happy, I have been working in these competitions for years now and we have three titles, I am very happy to be able to represent Brazil again. Now, we have to study hard for the world championship, the challenge is huge and the objective is to reach the final stage and potentially bring a beautiful trophy to our country,” said Boram Um, barista.
Second place went to Leo Moço and third place to Hugo Silva. The championship, is part of the project “Brazil. The Coffee Nation”, held by the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA) and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), and is sanctioned by World Coffee Events (WCE).
“This championship is very important because it celebrates the coming together of Brazilian specialty coffee and the professional barista. Over the years, Brazil has been growing in terms of quality, allowing a better repertoire for the professional barista to offer more options to the final consumer as well as a cup of excellence,” said Vinicius Estrela, BSCA’s executive director.
The 18 contestants were judged on their skills in coffee preparation and presentation, as well as their knowledge of the industry and the products they are using. The quality of the specialty coffee and the presentation of the baristas impressed the judges. “I had one of the best Brazilian coffees I have ever tasted this weekend at the championship. The quality of the coffee, of the presentations, of the performances and the baristas themselves were really, really high,” said Richard Corney, head judge and World Coffee Events representative.
Luiz Salomão, who has been a judge for 15 years, shared the same opinion: “We saw the evolution of the coffee beans, and how baristas are increasingly involved in the entire chain process. The way the baristas created the synergy of coffee with ingredients used in their drinks caught our attention, it shows that they are studying flavours more and more, and what to look out for in order to create a drink with unique sensory notes.”
Brazil is the largest coffee producer and exporter in the world, there are 34 producing regions, with more than 150 varieties, with a sensory profile beyond the traditional sensorial notes often associated with Brazilian coffees such as chocolate, caramel and nuts. Dedication to quality and research into post-harvest processing methods such as anaerobic fermentation have yielded rare and exotic flavours and aromas such as passion fruit, blueberry, wild strawberry preserves, brilliant acidity and velvety body, among others that are considered unique.
In 2022, 122 countries bought Brazilian beans. Specialty coffee, for example, has consistently grown at an annual rate of 10% to 15% over the past few years, and represents around 20% of Brazilian coffee exports and for the 2021/22 harvest, some 8 million 60kg bags of specialty coffee were exported. The value of the global trade in green coffee beans is over USD 30 billion per year.