Umami Coffe
Camp Colombia Special Edition came to an end. The future sets aside new
interesting projects in partnership with Café Quindio.
The special edition of umami Coffee Camp in Colombia came
to an end last April 26. Once again, the "Umami format" gave the
opportunity to a group of twenty-five participants to visit and work in the
plantations of the coffee production country, combining field experience and SCAE
(Speciality Coffee Association of Europe) Coffee Diploma System trainings. In this
last trip bartenders, roasters and coffee lovers, from Italy, Honduras,
Australia and Germany, explored far and wide the Quindio region.
Of crucial importance has been the partnership
between Umami Area, based in Florence and engaged in the field of coffee
trainings, and Café Quindio. This latter is a coffee production company, owned
by the Moreno family and established in Armenia, capital city of the region.
The company owns three plantations and over thirty cafeterias spread throughout
the country, whose concept expresses the philosophy of quality and strong
identity of the Colombian tradition. The newly formed partnership between Umami
Area and Café Quindío - as announced during the on-site press conference - has
led to the design of a plan of education on quality coffee in Colombia that will
develop in four annual camps. Thus, in the coming future, those willing to gain
fieldwork experience will have several opportunities to see with their own eyes
the origin of coffee.
Fieldwork
experience among the coffee plants
The recent edition of umami Coffee Camp witnessed the
participants actively participating in the collection of ripe coffee cherries
in the plantation Saint Lucia. From the selection of the best fruits, they had
the chance to follow the whole processing of the beans. The experience ended
with “cupping sessions” during which participants tasted a rich selection of
different varieties of coffee, in order to grasp the different organoleptic flavours.
At Finca El Lagrado plantation, the participants visited the coffee nursery, witnessing
the growth process of the coffee trees from sowing to the first 18 months of
life. Here, each participant planted and gave a personal name to his/her plant.
Afterwards, the journey, led Umami team at Finca La Mina, whose land has an
altitude of 1400 to 1900 meters above sea level and a density of coffee plants
ranging from 4000 to 6000 per hectare. The varieties that have been planted here
are Castillo, Colombia, Yellow Bourbon, Caturra and Geisha. In this "Beneficio"
(processing plant) Colombians pickers can earn bonuses in monetary terms and
not, only based on the quality of their crop, which is around 110-120 pounds
daily. Along with the everyday fieldwork experience, participants attended the
Coffee Diploma System classes, led by a team of SCAE authorized trainers, in
order to obtain the certifications of the Coffee Diploma System modules: green
coffee, roasting, sensory and barista in basic, intermediate and advanced
levels.
The journey foresaw many different activities.
One of these was the visit to the production plant Caravela Coffee, where
participants witnessed the coffee selection done through densimeter and optical
machines and the visit to the Parque Del Café, a theme park, among nature and
fun, where there is the coffee botanical specie
of Liberica, very rare, long-lived, robust and lush that can reach 18 meters in
height, with fruits and seeds twice big those of Arabica, and also more
resistant to parasites attacks.
Andrej Godina, president of Umami Area since June 2015, comments on the
path that Umami Area is going through: "[…] the association Umami Area in such a short
time has helped and boosted the spread of the culture of quality coffee in
Italy, with significant and concrete changes. It has offered trainings to over two
hundred professionals, with three international travels to the coffee
plantations, four international collaboration agreements and two projects
funded by the European Union." A path, developed to spread the culture of quality coffee in Italy and
in Europe, which is opening up to new projects with particular focus on social
responsibility and environmental sustainability.”
Brazil is going to witness one of the next activities. In fact, Umami
Area signed an agreement with Fazenda de Esperanza, a social project with over
seventy farms devoted to the rehabilitation of drug addicts. On December, there
is going to be the new Umami Coffee Camp Honduras Special Edition, along with
the purchase of a specialty coffee plantation, within the Celaque National
Park, UNESCO world heritage.
Umami Area Secretary:
Giacomo Monachesi: +39 333 4786943
