We have been working on this for the past 6 months. The list has been kept in a very secret place. The Nordicleaks on Sprudge told only half the story….
We are very proud to announce the team of speakers for this year’s Nordic Barista Cup.
Here is the line up:
WANJIRA NJERU
Wanjira Njeru is Chief Executive Officer for the Coffee Board of Kenya. She is an Agriculture Value Chains Management specialist with a strong professional background & vast experience in Coffee Research and project management.
She has a special interest in coffee value chains, having served in the industry in various capacities for the last 18 years. Wanjira Njeru has immense knowledge and working experience with both the public & private sectors and demonstrable expertise in leadership. She is responsible to Government, Board & Industry for the Vision, Strategy, Leadership and overall oversight of the coffee sector.
At Nordic Barista Cup 2012 Wanjira Njeru will talk about “The trade of Kenyan coffee”.
DAVID WALSH
David joined the Marco R&D Team in 2011, having previously worked in a university doing scientific research, juggling his time with enthusiastic contribution to specialty coffee conversation online.
David Walsh has won the Irish Cup Tasting Championship twice, and has placed second in the World Championships twice.
At Nordic Barista Cup 2012 David will speak about “Why we brew how we brew”
JAMES HOFFMANN
James Hoffmann has been in coffee since 2004, starting at Gaggia UK before becoming National Training Manager for La Spaziale UK. In 2007 he left to start his own company with Anette Moldvaer – Square Mile Coffee Roasters – who have been operating since 2008. Further more he was the UK Barista Champion in 2006 & 2007, and the World Barista Champion in 2007.
He was also the UK Brewers Cup champion in 2011, the UK Cup Tasting Champion in 2008. He currently divides his time between Square Mile Coffee Roasters and a handful of consultancy projects within the world of coffee and equipment. At Nordic Barista Cup 2011 James hosted a lecture about reinventing espresso.
At NBC 2012 James will talk about “How to make coffee a viable career”.
RENÉ REDZEPI
Head chef and partner at restaurant noma in Copenhagen. Noma opened the doors in January 2004 and since then it has been a rise to fame. Noma holds 2 Michelin stars and is voted to be number one restaurant in the world on Restaurant Magazine’s “World’s 50 best”.
Rene has worked at several Michelin starred restaurants, among others Le Jardin Des Sens, El Bulli and The French Laundry. René Redzepi has re-invented the Nordic kitchen via noma, and is currently one of the most influential and quoted persons on the gastronomic scene world wide.
In March 2012 he was on the cover of TIME magazine.
At Nordic Barista CUp 2012 René will talk about “Coffee is the shit!”.
DOUG ZELL
Doug Zell’s involvement with coffee began in the early 1990’s. He had moved to California to begin a new business venture that ultimately failed and landed him in San Francisco where he drank his first cup of real Specialty Coffee at the now defunct Spinelli Coffee. It was love at first taste.
After stints at Peet’s Coffee and Spinelli Coffee working in various capacities from barista to management, Doug packed all of his worldly possessions into an old truck and left San Francisco, on April Fool’s Day 1995, bound for Chicago and parts unknown.
After devising a business plan in his parent’s basement, Doug emerged to found Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago’s Lakeview East neighborhood on October 9th, 1995. He has held every position in the company from coffee buyer, to roaster, barista, delivery driver, bill collector, art director, floor sweeper and everything in between. Currently, he serves as Intelligentsia’s CO-CEO. Today Intelligentsia is a coffee company with 8 coffee bars and 3 roasting facilities.
At Nordic Barista Cup 2012 Doug Zell will talk about “Coffee bars and the evolution of hospitality”.
MORTEN WENNERSGAARD
Morten worked as a restaurant manager in Oslo until 2003, he then started working as product manager/coffee buyer for Solberg & Hansen coffee roasters in Oslo, and was instrumental in building their quality of sourcing. He worked for Solberg & Hansen untill 2011 when he co-started a coffee importing company called Nordic Approach, with focus on sustainability and traceability, together with Tim Wendelboe.
At Nordic Barista Cup 2012 Morten will host a lecture and cupping about “Sourcing quality in Africa”.
HAMISH ANDERSON
Hamish Anderson is one of London’s most celebrated wine experts, having won many awards for the renowned Tate Britain cellar.
Tate Modern in London capitalised on this by making Hamish responsible for all wine buying. Hamish has also recently helped set up the Tate’s own coffee roasting department.
In 2003 Hamish published the book “Vino: Great Wine for Everyday Life”. The book’s down to earth approach has won praise from the amateur and expert alike.
At Nordic Barista Cup 2012 Hamish will be speaking about “Terroir vs. Blending in Wine” as well has hosting a wine tasting.
VINCE FEDELE
A true intellect, Vince Fedele the CEO of VST, a company he founded in 1990, has been prolific in the development of technology in coffee.
More recently Vince has helped advance the specialty coffee industry, having won Best New Product awards two years running at SCAA with ExtractMoJo and the VST Coffee Refractometer and MoJoToGo for iPhone – now considered essential items for coffee brewing.
Vince’s products have won quick adoption as standard tools for education and training by the Specialty Coffee Association of America, Specialty Coffee Association of Europe and most recently the Norwegian Coffee Association at the European Coffee Brewing Center at Oslo.
OLIVER STRAND
Oliver Strand regularly contributes to the New York Times, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine and GQ.
He is one of the restaurant reviewers for the New York Times dining section, and his column on coffee, “Ristretto,” appears on the New York Times online.
Oliver Strand is writing a book on coffee to be published by HarperCollins.
At Nordic Barista Cup 2012 Oliver til host a lecture called “Coffee and the media”.
PETER KIMATA
Peter Kimata, a qualified agronomist, is responsible for overseeing dry milling at Central Kenya Coffee Mills (sister company to CMS). Over 30% of Kenya’s coffee is annually milled at this facility, which serves over 200,000 farmers – in which Peter works closely with.
Originally Peter started studying Agricultural Engineering in 1992. And from 2001-2006 he worked as Agronomist at the Large Scale Coffee Estates. From 2007-2009 he was Senior Agronomist with CMS in Dorman Group. Peter is involved in Sustainable coffee production projects leading to Utz, FLO, RA and 4C certifications. He is also a Lead Auditor on Environmental Management.
At Nordic Barista Cup 2012 Peter Kimata will host a lecture and cupping about “Agronomy of Kenyan Coffee”.
TIM WENDELBOE
Tim Wendelboe runs his own roastery, espresso bar and coffee school in Oslo that specializes in importing and roasting some of the best coffees grown around the world.
Apart from winning three Nordic Roaster competitions together with his roasting team, he was the 2004 World Barista Champion and the 2005 World Cup Tasting Champion. Tim is an experienced lecturer and has been working as a coffee consultant for eight years. He is also wrote a book on coffee “Coffee with Tim Wendelboe “ in 2010.
In 2011 Tim founded the green coffee import company Nordic Approach together with Morten Wennersgaard. The company specializes in developing, importing and selling high quality green coffee to roasters around the world.
At Nordic Barista Cup 2012 Tim Wendelboe will talk about his experiences with “Developing Green Coffee quality”.