Seattle Baristas travel on International Exchange

Trabant Coffee and Chai is sending three baristas on business trips this month to learn about international café cultures. Lorrie McCullaugh and Tatiana Becker will visit Colombia from September 2-17 on a USAID funded barista exchange (through ACDI/VOCA Colombia). They will visit coffee farms in the growing regions of Huila and Armenia, learn about growing, processing, and roasting, and experiencing Colombia's emerging cafe culture. Colombian barista Luis Fernando Velez will accompany Lorrie and Tatiana back to Seattle for intensive barista training to help improve the quality of Colombia’s emerging café scene. Luis will also tour around Seattle to get a better understanding of an established café scene. Watch for him behind the bar at Trabant in the week beginning September 18.

Trabant barista Jeff Webre will visit Sweden and Denmark from September 17 - October 10, to volunteer at the Nordic Barista Cup competition and to experience Scandinavian café culture. Nordic Barista Cup is one of the most innovative barista competitions in the world, where competitors from five countries face such challenges as roasting their own coffee or milking cows to obtain milk for making cappuccinos. It demonstrates to the public the skill involved with the barista profession, and challenges top baristas to hone their skills even further. After Nordic cup, Jeff will tour cafes in Scandinavia with the 2006 World Barista Champion, Klaus Thomsen.

About Trabant: Established in 2003, Trabant Coffee and Chai is one of Seattle’s premier “Third Wave” coffee bars. Trabant is committed to quality and fairness in all aspects of its business. It purchases only coffee beans that have scored extremely high in rigorous taste tests. Baristas undergo several months of rigorous training, culminating in a hands-on exam, before they are allowed to make drinks for customers. As a result, it was named Seattle’s best coffee house in the 2005 and 2007 citysearch.com vote.