Last year, when I the World of Coffee happened in Athens, I was able to retrace my steps around the city’s specialty coffee scene, one that I had first explored a few years prior when I was in town with my mum. During my last visit, I discovered some exciting new coffee bars and found that many of my previous discoveries had closed down. Athens is a city in flux that went from being severely hit by a terrible economic crisis to one of the most dynamic capitals in Europe today.
Though the struggles are still found around every corner, there is also a newfound sense of positivity and opportunity. The Greek coffee scene has been quite competitive for years and many leading Greek baristas have made a mark on the global coffee scene with one, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, coming in second place at the World Barista Championships in 2019.
Someone else who has been an integral part of the Greek coffee scene for years is Stefanos Domatiotis, founder of Create Coffee Roasters and a former World Brewers Cup champion. I had never met Stefanos until last weekend when I ran into him at the Mahlkönig / Standart party in Copenhagen and it felt like I had known him for years. A deep embrace was followed with hilarious anecdotes that he shared with Michal Molcan of Standart Magazine and me, giving us a fine taste of his charistmatic persona.
He was incredibly proud that we picked Create Coffee for the upcoming European coffee roasters selection in July and even prouder that we picked the coffee from Piedras de Lana in Panama. “This coffee is very close to my heart,” he proclaimed. The coffee was produced by Cafelino in Boquete, a business run by Marco Ameglio Samudio and Xenia Carles de Ameglio who have set the bar high for environmental protection and employee well-being on their estate.
Apart from growing exceptional specialty coffees, Cafelino also produces organic vegetables. Many of the people who work on the farm are from the Ngäbe Buglé tribe who live in the surrounding areas. I visited Boquete many years ago when I was travelling in Panama and saw the stunning natural beauty of the region first hand. With rich volcanic soil, abundant rainforests and varied microclimates, this region is perfectly suited to the production of outstanding coffees.
During the last Amsterdam Coffee Festival, I met some of Create Coffee’s people at its booth where I got to taste a few of its coffees before it sent over a bunch samples for our cupping. Though I didn’t get a chance to visit Create Coffee’s café during my last visit to Athens, it had been on my list for a while and meeting the team confirmed my idea that Create Coffee would be a great partner for The Coffeevine. I also really wanted to put a Greek roaster back into one of our boxes considering it has been a long time since we had one.
The coffee that Create Coffee will roast for us is a super juicy and delicious natural processed Catuaí with a rich berry like cup profile and a tantalizing tartness on the tongue.
To receive this excellent coffee along with our other European picks from Kalve and Replica, order our your box from our shop now.
Pre-orders close on 15.07.2024 / Ships globally on 22.07.2024
