The WRBC 2008 is being held in Berkeley, CA this year so it is easy to get to for the first time!

The 4th Annual Western Regional Barista Competition comes to the Gaia Arts Center, Berkeley, CA, and raises the bar yet higher in the pursuit of espresso excellence and specialty coffee appreciation.

The Specialty Coffee Association of America presents the 2008 WRBC, showcasing the talents of the best baristas from across California and Hawaii. The winner will compete in the semifinal round at the 2008 U.S. Barista Championship in Minneapolis, MN; the winner of the U.S. competition will compete in the 2008 World Barista Championship in Copenhagen, Denmark.

All the usual WRBC favorites will return this year, as well as some exciting new additions:

The Fourth Machine & Clover Brewer: showcasing regional specialty coffee roasters with competition-level espresso and cappuccino & coffees brewed on the Clover single-cup brewer. Served free to the public!

Speakers and Seminars by Joseph Rivera, Kenneth Davids, Sarah Allen, Mike Perry & more.

The Painted & Photographed Bean: A Coffee Art Perspective featuring local artists.

Trophies for top three competitors by a local artist and New Awards: Best Espresso, Best Signature Drink, Most Promising Newcomer & The Barista’s Barista.

We invite any one who likes coffee and food to come out and enoy the festivities and watch some amazing Baristas compete. Team Barefoot is being represented by a total of six competitors this year. From Barefoot is the famous Monica R. Hill and Marie Holston. Monica and Marie competed out of region at the Southwest regional last month to get practice. Marie took third place in here first competition! Two first time Barista competitors from Temple Fine Coffee in Sacramento will be looking to kick a little coffee action. And two first time Barista competitors from Caffe Mediteraneum in Berkeley are also representing team Barefoot.

In addition four Baristas from Barefoot , Sean Komescher owner of Temple and Craig Becker owner of Caffe Mediteraneum will be judging the competition.

Barefoot will also have two slots on the 4th machine this year serving up beautiful single origin coffees on the espresso machine and the Clover machine. Friday 10 to 11 am and Sunday 1 to 2 pm. Come on by and taste some coffee!

If you come wear a Barefoot shirt to show your love for the whole team and cheer loudly when anyone from the team competes. Look for Barefootians wearing the team jacket.

Get yourself there!

During the last week of February Barefoot Coffee Roaster Dominic Taylor had the honor of attending a round table conference in the birth place of coffee. Going to Ethiopia is an experience most roasters can only dream about so you can imagine how excited I was. Taking part in a conference designed to connect roasters with the farmers who grow their coffee was unbelievably perfect. My deepest gratitude goes to USAID/FINTRAC and Boot Coffee Consulting for organizing such an event and Barefoot Coffee Roasters for sending me.

Monday started with a series of presentations followed by the round table discussion. All sectors of the coffee world were represented. We heard from U.S. coffee importers, Ethiopian coffee exporters, coffee farm managers, governmental officers, foreign aid representatives, coffee roasters and CQI. One of the key presenters was Ted Lingle, possibly the largest force in the US specialty coffee industry.

The second half of our day was spent cupping at the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association. The ECEA had a huge presence at the conference and I suspect that many of the developments in Ethiopian coffee, especially in the way of promotion, will have to come from them. We had some pretty funky tasting coffees and some very pleasant ones as well. There were Limmu’s, Sidamo’s and a couple Yirgacheffe’s. I have to admit though that I was pretty much shot for this cupping due to the travel, the altitude (Addis is around 8000 ft.), and a lingering flu I had the week before I left.

Jimma found me in much better health. This was the second stop on our journey and the locale of the major part of the conference. Jimma is about 45 minutes by plane south of Addis Ababa. The first day was very relaxed with only a trip to the Jimma Agricultural Research Station on the itinerary. The rest of the time was spent mingling at the Central Jimma Hotel. Everyone attending the conference ate all three meals together so there was plenty of time to get to know people.

Day 2 of the conference brought together opposite ends of the coffee chain. We heard from roasters on one side and farm managers/exporters on the other. Filling in the middle was representatives from CQI and Boot Coffee Consulting speaking on the importance of cupping. It was so nice for me to see the presentations by Abdullah Bagersh of S.A. Bagersh (think Idido Misty Valley) and Dante Vilones of Dominion Trading Company. The passion for growing coffee that was displayed reminded me of home and the passion I share with the roasters and baristi in the cafe.

It was a special treat to meet Dante of Dominion Trading Company. We shared many meals together and had lots of time to talk. I brought some of Barefoot’s DTC coffee and we were both delighted to see the coffee go from grower to roaster and then back again. I was also very excited because Dante had some new samples for me. This year DTC is also venturing into natural Yirgacheffes. Their washed coffee is some of the best I have ever had so I can’t wait to try the natural. I was also able to establish contact with Abdullah Bagersh. Barefoot wasn’t able to get any coffee from them last season but I have tried the Idido Misty Valley from other roasters and it is awesome.

The whole conference was set up to give buyers a chance to meet with farmers and exporters to try and set up direct relationships. I now have many contacts. That first day in Jimma I was sitting next to Mr. Getachew of IPS. IPS is the largest specialty only coffee exporter in Ethiopia. I have already received samples from them and was delighted to find out that our new Ghimbi is from them but purchased through one of our importers. I also met a number of farmers and exporters who are on the cusp. They are in the process of raising quality and entering into the specialty market. Two of these coffees stood out and we will be keeping an eye on them in the future. Guji coffee and Tepi coffee will be the next great regions of Ethiopia I think.

As we strolled through the coffee trees under the canopy everyone noticed how many birds were there and people started asking about “bird friendly” certification. They are not certified but only because they haven’t applied. This should change soon. Giday samples? Yes. One of the nicest wild forest Limmu’s I had while in Jimma.

Day four. The most special day in a coffee lovers life. Today we go to Bonga! We did get some work done in the morning though. This days conference allowed me the chance to address everyone on the process that Barefoot goes through to source coffees (cupping!!) and what we try to offer our customers in the way of great coffee, education, and service. We also heard from USAID/Fintrac on what they were trying to accomplish in Ethiopia. Their goal is to raise coffee production in Ethiopia by 74% in the next 3-5 years and they are succeeding. Phenomenal! We also had a surprise presentation from a young couple from Holland who happened to be at the Hotel. They had just finished getting Jimma’s first public radio station online and were offering it as a resource to get education to the local farmers.

The rest of the day was spent primarily on a bus to Bonga in the Kaffa district. Yes, Kaffa the birthplace of coffee. Where it all started. Our first stop and resting place for the night was the Wush Wush tea estate. Even though I have been to many tea estates before I am still overwhelmed at the great swaths of green that tea fields are. We arrived with just enough time to take a walk through town at sunset before dinner.

Taking the bus to Bonga and the coffee farm the day after Wush Wush was another unforgettable experience. Not so much for the dusty roller coaster ride that it was but for the scenery. I have never seen so many shades of green. All kinds of vegetation overlapping and competing with each other to form a dense web of life. I found out that Kaffa gets rain ten months out of the year and it certainly showed. Also delightful for those of us who reside in more northern regions was the baboons and monkeys. One thing I noticed was, what I later found out were, beehives in many of the trees. A little added income for the local coffee pickers. And what makes that honey so damn good. The coffee. The bees feast on coffee blossoms. Okay, so whatever amazing forested farms I saw in Jimma… forget it. These Bonga farms were truly like walking into the jungle only the under story was comprised of thousands of coffee trees. It was funny, all the seasoned coffee pros who have been to origin before duly minded the tour. The rest of us got lost taking pictures in the coffee jungle. The only downside to todays trip was that this farm too had already been targeted by the Japanese. Why must the Japanese have such good taste in coffee?

We arrived back from Bonga in the late evening. Dinner, a beer, and bed. The next day would be a late morning flight to Addis and the end of my new friends and my time together. The next day back in Addis left plenty of time for the last chance souvenir shopping and one last dinner.

The excruciatingly long trip home left me with much time to reflect on the whole experience. There is no one thing that impacted more than another but many things that have further formed me both as a roaster and a person. Ethiopia is an amazing country both for its land and its people. The sheer beauty of Ethiopia and the relaxed happiness of its people had me wanting to live there. The many people I met in the conference validated my choice of career and I hope I can develop a personal relationship as well as business with those that I met. Coffee is a truly amazing thing and attracts truly amazing people.

Look for some exciting coffees coming soon as results of the amazing partnerships Barefoot has been developing in Ethiopia.

Thank you to all the great people who put their money where their heart is and donated money to help support Juana Martin and her family. Together we raised $3,803.00 for the Martin family!!

Edwin Martinez of Finca Vista Hermosa is flying to Guatemala Friday the 7th and will be bringing down the money to help out the entire family. Thank you so much to all who donated, chipped in and helped out. I know that several other great roasters like Victrola Coffee, Brown Coffee and others all had donation drives as well and raised a great deal of money.

And a huge heartfelt thanks goes out to the amazing Barefoot Baristas who on their own decided to band together and donate all of their tips for the last week to Juana and her family! That is a strong move for a Barista to give up that much percentage of their income. Thank you Barefoot Baristas and crew!

Thank you so much everyone who helped out! We will still be raising money for the next few weeks so donate online or in the cafe!

But the tears keep clouding my vision. Every time I try to write more about Carlos and Edwin Martin and the tragedy at Finca Vista Hermosa I cloud up.

Thank you Mark Prince at Coffeegeek.com for putting finger to keyboard and doing a great pair of men justice.

Read it here

Barefoot Coffee Roasters is a cafe and roastery in the heart of Silicon Valley operating in the old ways of hands-on craftsmanship. Hands and hearts beat computer chips any day. Striving for coffee perfection makes Barefoot take coffee pretty seriously and pour love into every bean. While still keeping it simple; taking great coffee, crafting it with pride and passion and treating the whole coffee experience as a culinary art and operating sustainably from top to bottom.

The team has been ranked as one of the top four boutique roasters in the nation by Food and Wine Magazine and been voted Best Coffee in the Bay Area four years running by the Wave and Metro magazines and recently the Mercury News.

Barefoot is an artisan roaster of sustainable great coffees including Organic, Fair Trade, Shade Grown, co-op grown, single estates, auction winning lots and relationship coffees. These great coffees have amazingly complex flavors, nuances and layers which are truly wonderful on your tongue.
Great Coffee is it’s own reward. Trust the coffee.

Barefoot is a family; we don’t want your money we want your soul. If you are a lover of the bean and want to see if you have what it takes to be part of the crazy Barefoot coffee family then look around and drop us a line.
www.barefootcoffee.com

Customer Builder
The Barefoot Customer Builder is a relationship builder. A romance expander. A customer farmer. A business partner. A solution provider. A coffee slinger. A tea suggester. A chocolate enticer. Barefoot wholesale customers look to you for answers to their questions about great coffee: what you have thats hot and sexy this week, how best to brew it, how best to market it and how to get their staff excited about it. They are already sold on great Barefoot Coffee they want a friendly ear to talk to and a confident voice to help them along the way. You are not selling them coffee, tea and chocolate, you are guiding them towards serving great coffee, tea and chocolate and helping to make their cafe a success.

The Customer Builder works under the tutelage of the Coffee Wrangler and Roast Master to suggest hot new coffees each week for cafes to focus on, promotion ideas in their cafe, upcoming events, suggest trainings and suggest new items that we supply. These are existing customers already serving great Barefoot Coffee so you are their advisor and partner not their sales person. This is a great and engaging role. The Coffee Wrangler rides the range searching for new killer cafe customers that are ready to meet the rigors and standards to join the Barefoot family. The Customer Builder helps these new and existing customers maintain the high standards. Where the Coffee Wrangler will be out traveling to their cafe to help them install a new brewer, setup whole bean retail coffee, doing an espresso training or just giving ‘em the famous Wrangler face time. The Customer Builder is focused on building those customers’ weekly orders, answering questions about training or whole bean sales, and making them feel welcome and tight in the Barefoot family.

In a nutshell the Customer Builder works Monday through Friday in the office with periodic trips to customer cafes for training and support. You call and email every single customer every week to tell them about new or recommend coffees and teas that week, get their order, make sure they have all the airpot labels, signage, marketing materials etc, invoice it in Quickbooks, get it to production, make sure they are shipped and prioritized correctly and overall make the customer experience a great one. The Customer Builder is the customer advocate to production. You will also suggest new items like teas and chocolates, send them samples as needed, suggest trainings, remind about equipment cleaning and service and promote whole bean sales in their cafe. You will work closely with the Coffee Wrangler to help build our customers into world class successful cafes that serve Barefoot coffee exceptionally well. You will also be on the training team helping the Coffee Wrangler with wholesale cafe trainings, events and classes. The Customer Builder is in the Wholesale sales familia and works closely with the production and training teams. You are the face and voice of the Barefoot wholesale team to people who call the Coffee Works. The main phone number goes directly to you. You will be a master of Quickbooks and the gatekeeper of the phone.

The Customer Builder will also manage and promote the Barefoot online store. You will enter new online store sales in Quickbooks and ensure they get shipped on time and accurately. Communicate with these customers any issues or delays and ensure their satisfaction. You will manage the online store offerings to make sure that the store is accurate, up to date and well setup. You will manage subscriptions and repeat orders. You will also promote the store online, in our cafe and anywhere else needed to increase the sales in the online store.

The Customer Builder manages all of our wholesale customers and ensures their complete satisfaction, encourages standards achievement and guides them to be a profitable customer and a profitable business. It is a tall order with a huge amount of satisfaction. It requires extremely hard work, focused determination, attention to detail, persuasiveness and a great love of coffee and customers. It also requires a deep sensory and technical understanding of coffee, tea and chocolate flavors, sourcing and preparation. You will be able to enthusiastically wax poetic about new or exciting coffees and teas and help them extract the best espresso possible all in a friendly phone call. You will be confident enough to tell them when they need to make changes to their orders and their coffee preparation and enthusiastic enough to get them to try out the kick ass new Panama Kotowa coffee or Dragon well tea.

You will love great coffee and you will love customers. And they will love you and the coffee right back. Ahhhhh… ain’t that sweet!

Requirements:
1. Reliable transportation
2. able to work Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm
3. Must be passionate about great coffee
4. Be able to make great espresso and coffee
5. Excellent written and verbal communication skills
6. Very computer savvy and comfortable
7. Minimum of two years as a Barista or coffee professional
8. Prefer one year in customer service or sales in food industry
9. Able to actively and excitedly talk with business customers
10. Must want to kick coffee ass and help make Barefoot cafe customers the best they can be
compensation is $25,000 to $38,000 depending on bonuses and experience.

To see if you are a good fit for the team do the following:
1. Write a sexy cool cover letter explaining why you are the one true customer builder
2. Include your resume
3. Email it to us at: info -at- barefootcoffee -dot- com
4. But if you really want to get our attention and impress us, then do something truly creative and inspiring. Ask around at the cafe and you’ll get some ideas…

Thank you so much for your outpouring of support for the Martin family at Finca Vista Hermosa! With your help we have already raised over $700 in two days. Spread the word and join our support of the Martin and Martinez family by telling anyone interested to buy coffee or donate money.

With your help we can reach $2500 or more by this Friday! And our friends at Victrola Coffee and fellow Finca Vista Hermosa friends are going to be launching their own program to offer proceeds from the sale of FVH coffee for the Martin fund and we will add this to the check we give to Edwin Martinez (owner of Finca Vista Hermosa) when he goes to Guatemala in two weeks.

Thank you all!

And Edwin Martinez has setup a donation and more info about Carlos and Edwin on his blog as well