Visiting the Colombian Barista Coffee School

Colombia has grown coffee for decades, yet our consumer culture is not as developed as our agronomy expertise and marketing strategies. We produce one of the best coffees in the world, yet we don’t know our customers. Most of the time, we have consumed low-grade coffees not being able to distinguish between a good cup of coffee prepared in the professional fashion and an average beverage.

New trends have emerged in barista education, due in part to the strong influence of the Juan Valdez coffee shops. The emerging barista profession needs new schools to learn the proper way to pull good shots. The Colombian Coffee School (ECC in Spanish), located in Bogota, is one such example of what’s new in the educational front:

Mr. Parmenio Angarita is the current director and founder of the Colombian Barista School and is an enthusiastic coffee booster. Much of his knowledge and expertise comes from his prior coffee shop business — Willy’s Coffee. When he started in the early 90s, he knew that serving good coffee was not the sole reason for the business. He began presenting lectures regarding coffee cupping and his coffee community proposed he open a school to promote coffee culture and knowledge.

The school, founded almost 6 years ago is located in a traditional eastside neighborhood in Bogota. Mr. Angarita opened his place to share his secrets. He has a graphic design background and  introduced me to his previous and current work as a label designer for many coffee brands. A collection of beautiful and colorful labels was impressive. He has switched careers to become a coffee barista instructor and school director. Mr. Angarita told me how his experience as a rural coffee consultant informed his vision as school director today. A program financed by the Dutch government taught him how important it was to learn to prepare a good cup of coffee for everyone involved in the coffee supply chain. “I learned more at that time, as this travel period opened my mind about the meaning of teaching growers to learn more about their product — specifically how important it is to prepare a good cup of coffee.”

The School operates in a small place with enough equipment and instructors to attract local and international baristas who learn the secrets to pulling good shots in a unique setting.

Next year the World Barista Championship will take place in Bogota, Colombia. Mr. Angarita believes that we have great candidates, but scarce international experience may limit the possibilities to achieve better rankings. Places such as the ECC (http://www.escuelacolombianadelcafe.com) may provide opportunities to improve the new wave of Baristas.