Page 39 - #46 English

Article by Coffee t&i Thailand
Photos by Coffee t&i Malaysia
Colin Harmon

Irish Barista Champion & the Owner of 3FE

Before Colin Harmon got himself into the coffee in- Competition
dustry, he was a hedge fund manager in Dublin. Although it “After taking the barista career, I won Irish Barista
was a great and wealthy job, it couldn’t bring happiness to his Championship 4 times and ranked at top 4 in various inter-
life. He felt he needed something and turned to his interest national competitions. My first competition was in 2009,”
in Specialty Coffee which was born in 2008 when Hasbean said Colin. For Colin, the real prize of competing in a com-
and Square Mile opened in UK. However, the turning point petition is not money or trophies, but the ‘Opportunity’. He
in his life happened when he entered Flat White in London is blessed to have his father, Steve Leighton, and Cosimo
and suddenly made his mind that coffee is what he really Libardo as advisors and David Walsh and Pete Williams
want to do! as trainers, as well as many others who helped him along
the way. Again, he hopes to compete in the Irish Barista
Championships (IBC) 2016 and World Barista Champion-
ship (WBC)!
Asia Coffee Market
When he opened his shop in 2009, there were only
a few Specialty Coffee shops. Now there are 20-30 more
shops and they are great coffee shops with great community
growing around them. Compared to Ireland, Asia coffee
market has extraordinary growth and enthusiasm. “I can
feel the passion when I travel to China, Japan, Malaysia,
Indonesia, and Thailand a few months ago. It’s exciting to
see what the future holds for this region. I believe Asia will
be the driving market for Specialty Coffee and cities like
Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong will play an important
role in the coffee industry,” Colin said.
Favorite Beans
Colin’s favorite is Chemex brewed coffee beans
from Rosenda Melgar, Loayza, Bolivia. However, he’s not
restricted to just one type of brewing method as he loves
to switch around. As for espresso machine and grinder,
he’s currently prefers Nuova Simonelli. “The first espresso
machine I used was the Fiorenzato’s Coffee Angel, but I have
“We now operate a coffee shop, a school, a webshop, always been using Nuova Simonelli although I used to try
an event organizer, and a roaster that roast quality coffee for Anfim’s grinder. I like Nuova Simonelli’s Gravimetric and
over 50 shops in Ireland. Our shop is just an ordinary coffee T3 technology because it makes consistent quality coffee
shop, serving coffee and food every day. It’s a little busy to and reduce waste,” Colin said. The technology makes it
be doing a whole lot of businesses, but the roaster is a lot of easier to make coffee and allows barista to perfect a brew
fun. We have around 5-7 different coffee, depending on the in no time. He also added his view on the Mythos One
season, and sometimes we have orders from overseas. And grinder that, “the advantage of Mythos One is the accurate
we hope to receive orders from Asia soon,” said Colin, the and consistent dosage. You can use it all day with having
owner of 3FE, Dublin, Ireland. “I love my colleagues. We to adjust the setting. It’s the most consistent grinder I’ve
have a great team at 3FE and they are passionate and love used so far.”
what they do,” he replied our question about his staffs. To get
where he is today, he spent a lot of hours doing researches
on the internet, but what really started his career was the
time when he worked for Steve at Hasbean earlier in his
coffee career.
Colin has been one of the driving gears of Nuova
Simonelli’s Mythos One grinder development team for 4
years now, even though he planned to be a part of it for only
6 months. He also joined Victoria Arduino as a test driver
of James Hoffmann designed machine. “It was an amazing
6 months at 3FE and I really love it,” Colin expressed his
delight. We continued to ask about his next project, but he
is keeping it a hidden secret with a promise to reveal it soon
to everyone.
39