Last month the first European Barista Camp took place in Greece with a fantastic turn-out of baristas from all over the continent. The camp was organised by the Barista Guild of Europe with one objective: to create a platform for baristas to develop professionally and personally, both in terms of their skill sets, and to develop new sets of friendships. The community that came together at Barista Camp EU was an amazing slice of the barista scene bubbling up across the continent, and we want to showcase that passion. Take a look back with us at Barista Camp EU 2014, as seen through the eyes of the baristas, volunteers, sponsors, and trainers who were there.
Tryggvi Þór Skarphéðinsson (barista, Iceland); Kim Staalman, Keng Pereira, and Ka-Tjun Hau (baristas, Netherlands);
TRYGGVI: “I really loved the diverse crowd being pulled together by this event. I loved meeting baristas from all over the world […] camp was an amazing opportunity to broaden the coffee horizon for me.”
KENG: “Camp […] helped me realize that the industry that we’re in is ever-evolving. We learn from each other and want to progress every day. I would definitely recommend it to new baristas that want to enhance their knowledge over coffee, see great lectures and meet amazing people I learned a lot of stuff that helped out for the competitions, which I’m really grateful for!”
KA-TJUN: “We also got the chance to meet current national champion baristas and of course, the amazing Sonja Grant. And they shared their experiences with competitions and performances on the World Barista Championship as well which turned out to be quite useful for us.”
Sasha Bykova (barista, Russia)
SASHA: “I’ve met wonderful people from all over the world who love coffee as much as me, who are so different and interesting. We shared experiences with each other, brewing together, having fun together. Barista camp seemed to me a great family, united by love for coffee.”
Vini Arruda (volunteer, Ireland), Elisabet Sereno (trainer, Spain)
VINI: “As Coordinator of Education for SCAE Ireland and the Authorized SCAE Trainer Programme, to be part of the volunteer team at Barista Camp was an incredible experience! Being able to get involved with the organisation and delivery of the courses and bring it back with me to Dublin to pass it on to our committee. I’ve got to know great people from all over the world and exchange information and knowledge with others ASTs and volunteers.”
Juan Micuesta and Craig Walsh (baristas, Ireland), surrounding Emiliya Yordanova (barista, Scotland)
CRAIG: “I was expecting to better myself as a barista, meet new people and see the different ways that other baristas work. The camp exceeded expectations and what I took from it was incredible! I definitely took a lot home from Greece in terms of experience, the lecturers were truly amazing and helpful as well as the volunteers who also did a fantastic job!”
Enrico Wurm and Giovanni Fucili (sponsors, Italy)
ENRICO: “I liked the camp a lot because it gave me the opportunity to meet young baristas that perhaps in the future will become leaders in the coffee industry.”
GIOVANNI: “I think the Barista Summer Camp was a great success for the turnout, the quality of the courses and the beautiful setting in which it took place. I would like to thank the hosting country, Greece: an important player in specialty coffee in Europe as the successes at the world champions demonstrated…the Greek coffee scene market is alive and full of initiative.”
Silvia Graham (volunteer, Romania), Elisabet Sereno (trainer, Spain), Csaba Boka (volunteer, Hungary), Sonja Grant (trainer, Iceland)
SILVIA: “The most important thing about Barista Summer Camp was that baristas from all over Europe got to meet each other not to compete, but to share their passion for coffee, to learn, have fun, and be a community. The energy was really fantastic! For me it was one of the best experiences with coffee people and coffee!”
Irina Sharipova and Anastasia Chekhovich (baristas, Russia)
IRINA: “I won a ticket here in Rimini when I was at the WBC, I competed in a latte art battle, and I didn’t think that it would be such an amazing experience with incredible coffee people around the world. I would like to visit this camp again because for me it’s exciting to be a part of this coffee world. Now I feel inspired by the charismatic trainers and I would like to learn as much as possible.”
Estelle Bright (sponsor, UK), Diana Johnston (barista, UK), and Enrico Wurn (sponsor, Italy)
ESTELLE: “There is already a strong European barista community but [barista camp] brought lots of us together in one place and gave a little structure and leadership to help newer baristas become involved and older ones to connect with new ideas.”
DIANA: “What I enjoy both about Barista camp and the coffee industry as a whole is that is full of people from very different walks of life who are all extremely passionate about one thing…coffee! Barista Camp enabled people who would have never met otherwise to gather and interact as the coffee professionals we are. In order to progress, learn and share passion…community is necessary.”
Alex Morrell and Andra Vlaicu (SCAE, UK)
ALEX: “Barista Summer Camp was a whirlwind of enthusiastic people from all over Europe and beyond. I returned to England feeling revived with so much new knowledge filling my brain. The people I met have not only impressed me with their skills and expertise but inspired me to do more than what may seem like impossible: to have that café dream, to enter that barista championship or to train to be a judge…and just do anything and everything possible to make those dreams reality.”
ANDRA: “Barista Camp is a story about coffee and community and friendship and knowledge. It is about shared passion and sharing a cup of coffee. It’s about humbleness and openness. It’s about people. So don’t take my word on it, be there! Join their next event, attend the next camp and you won’t regret it!”
Stavros Lamprinidis and Christos Loukakis (baristas, Greece)
STAVROS “I really enjoyed [barista summer camp] because I had the opportunity to be with so many passionate coffee friends and people who really are hungry to learn about coffee. I feel like we made history, our names are at the first barista camp of Europe! I like what happened on the first night with the team challenges, that so many people who didn’t know each other worked for the success of their team.”
Giulia Mule is a Sprudge.com contributor based in London. Read more Giulia Mule on Sprudge.
All photos by Giulia Mule for Sprudge.com