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Family businesses can be tricky and it’s not run “My brother is my
like regular businesses. Lucky for us Garam breaks it
down for us, “There are challenges, but the advantages partner and he ful-
outweigh them. Some of the advantages I can think of
is working in proximity, solving problems together and fills the necessities I
having different opinions and ideas opens up opportu-
nities to grow the business. The main challenge is to can’t. I think that is
separate personal and professional involvement, it can
be done and not entirely impossible.” the essence of
The positive impact of the Um Coffee Co. and
Fazenda Um has been felt on the local community and teamwork and how
Garam explains how, “The first few years have been
difficult, it was hard to show the local community why we push our dreams
specialty coffee was different from commercial coffee.
This is a challenge for most coffee shops, but now most of coffee together,”
of our clients know the difference and they appreciate
the coffee to the fullest.” Being an effective trainer is said Boram.
all about imparting knowledge in the most impactful
way possible, Garam tells us why he is very passionate
about training, “It’s a pleasure disseminating knowledge
and teaching about specialty coffee. Participating in
the world opens you to huge learning opportunities
which I can share with my clients and students.
Boram remembers watching different competi-
tions whilst attending coffee expos abroad, “I was
first inspired to be a competition barista back in 2015
after watching my first world competition.” He want-
ed to compete as an opportunity to learn and gain
different perspectives in the market. They first start-
ed investing on their baristas to compete but quickly
realized it wasn’t only about delivering a solid pre-
sentation or presenting a flavorful coffee. In 2019,
he decided to compete to learn how competitions
worked and how he could transmit that information
back to the team. The benefits they gained when he tition. Boram’s investment of time and effort on the
started working towards it by showcasing high-qual- technical side was a priority for him. The score sheet
ity Brazilian coffee and the barista profession was is a prime example; to understand how to perform well,
tantamount to their success. score the most points in every segment, the presenta-
Boram’s goal for competing was to “gather massive tion, the concept, and the quality of drinks. Selecting
amounts of coffee knowledge” while Garam wanted to the right coffee and developing an ideal roast profile
focus on building their brand, he shared his plan about is crucial. Boram used a Pink Bourbon grown on their
the Um Coffee Academy, “I want our brand to be known farm which was inspired by an anaerobically fermented
globally and inspire future students to learn about Panama Geisha from Janson Family Estates.
specialty coffee.” His passion for brewing developed The prep is what makes or breaks the performance.
more and more as he started working with coffee. He When asked about their prep, Boram exhaled and said,
explains why it’s more than a mere infatuation, “I was “A lot of practice, an average of 10-12 hours a day. This
always fascinated with how different variables influ- had to reflect our goal to inspire our professionals and
enced the final beverage. I studied the topic deeply to bring a new title to the Brazilian coffee industry as a
gain more knowledge and compete on a higher level.” strategy.” Garam also trained a similar number of hours
There’s no proven recipe in terms of winning a practicing his routine day in and day out, his plan was
barista championship. Everyone has a different per- to intensify the training as he got closer to the compe-
spective on how to go about preparing for the compe- tition, adjusting the finer details along the way.

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