Early September saw the sixth incarnation of Ramacafe, an annual coffee convention held in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. Featuring presentations by industry luminaries, classes for attendees and a genial atmosphere embodied by the event’s affable and gregarious host, Henry Hueck, president of the organizing committee and a coffee farmer absolutely committed to sustainable practices, the event brought together some 500 coffee professionals from all across the industry and from all over the globe for an in-depth discussion and exchange of ideas.

The theme for the three-day event was the perfect coffee equation: education plus collaboration plus quality equals a sustainable supply chain. To that end, most of the myriad presentations given over the three days focused on the coffee market and strategies for bringing sustainable and high-quality coffee to a greater consumer base. The value of certification for producers, such as Rainforest Alliance and Utz Kapeh, was illustrated at length, as was the future of such trends within the industry and specifically within the American consumer market. The consumer behavior in the U.S., Europe and Japan was seen as a driving force for the efforts on one side of the scale, while the farmers working toward better cultivation practices and the ensuing higher prices paid for crops were the balancing effect on the other side.

Certainly a country like Nicaragua where the heavy hand of American intervention has been felt repeatedly over the last century could use a chance at a more benign influence from its northern neighbor. But far more important than the reaction to the American market was the palpable sensation by the presenters and the audience that sustainability in practice was a way for farmers to improve their lives and their children’s future and ensure a continuation from one generation to another. Sustainability was presented as something the producers themselves could decide to pursue. It was not something that could be forced upon them, but something that could help them find better prices and also likeminded partners in the quest for quality.

“No matter how big or how small a grower’s operation,” Hueck said, the message he wanted Ramacafe to spread was that “if you do the right thing, sustainability is profitable. The end objective is to have more people drinking more coffee, because if we do that, all of the producers in the world will get a better price.”

The large lecture hall filled day in and day out with presenters from around the world and the region and an audience comprised of coffee farmers from throughout Nicaragua sitting side-by-side with other coffee professionals such as roasters, importers and retailers. Meanwhile, in another room in the convention center complex, something equally as important and revolutionary in the production of quality coffee in this country of origin was underway: barista training.

Coming into the convention center on the first day, through the crowd of people milling about in the atrium stands the distinctive figure of the World Barista Champion, Klaus Thomsen from Copenhagen, Denmark. He looks slightly jetlagged, but it’s nothing a quick espresso can’t fix, so he saddles up to the temporary espresso cart set up in one corner and asks for a shot. Watching the barista work on his order, a look of dispair fleets across his face. “It’s going to be a long few days,” he mutters. “Another trip to origin, and I can’t get a decent espresso!” he shouts. Frustrated, he slaps his open palm against the counter. Suddenly in a flurry of motion, he jumps over the bar, snatches the portafilter away from the frightened barista and exclaims, “Not like that! Like this, damn it, like this!”

OK, so that’s an exaggeration—or, uh, complete fiction. What is true, however, is that thanks to Thomsen and his compadres in education, the difference in the quality of espresso available to the people of Nicaragua before Ramacafe and after it will be immediately noticeable by the eyes, nose and palate of anyone lucky enough to order from a newly-educated barista or those who they train in turn.

Want to know what happened next in Nicaragua? Then order this back issue of Barista Magazine!