Remy Molina

What is your current occupation and employer?

I work at Ally Coffee, a green coffee company connecting roasters with specialty coffees sourced through sustainable partnerships in producing countries. I’m in charge of the Central America QC Lab here at Costa Rica.

List all the coffee competitions you have competed in.

• 2015 Costa Rica ‘Barista Challenge’ – 1^st place
• 2017 London Coffee Masters – 15^th place
• 2018 New York Coffee Masters – 1^st place

How did you get into the coffee industry? When did you know you wanted to turn your passion for coffee into a career?

Well, this is a tricky question because I didn’t like coffee when I was younger. I used to think that it was a bitter and nasty drink. When I finished school, I decided to study Physical Therapy, so I can recall back in those days when I was studying that I had my first cup of coffee. Of course, I had to add a lot of sugar and milk to hide the bitterness of that coffee, but I drank it because I wanted the caffeine to keep me awake. Then I stop studying for my career because I had to work to pay for the expenses and because my family was passing through a financial situation. So, I started working in a French Bakery almost seven years ago, without knowing anything about coffee, I was only the waiter. I remember the owners weren’t that into coffee, and only sold it as a commodity with their excellent pastries. But one day I was intrigued because people always told me that pastries always matched perfectly with really nice coffees, and this got me to study on how to prepare better coffees and that’s when I took my first Barista course in the Specialty Coffee Association of Costa Rica. It was also the first time I tried a cup of specialty coffee and when my passion began.

How did you first decide to compete in a coffee competition?

The first year I saw a coffee competition was in 2014. At that time, I realized I wanted to be part of a Barista competition, because I saw the passion and love people in the industry had for this profession.

 

My first competition was back in 2015, it was a competition called ‘Barista Challenge' here in Costa Rica. A competition of 15 competitors but only 8 Baristas were going to the finals, where we had 3 days of different challenges. It was kind of a Coffee Masters but with only 3 disciplines. One called the order, were you had 10 minutes to make the most cappuccinos you could. The second was the latte art discipline within a 10 min presentation, you had to present 3 different latte art designs in 6 latte art cups. The last one was a 10 min presentation in kind of a CIGS format, where you had to present 2 Irish coffees and 2 Signature drinks. That year I won first place in ‘Barista Challenge’.

 

I began to learn more about world coffee competitions, the rules, the technical and sensory score sheets, and that year I set a goal to myself wishing to be in another competition in 2016-2017. Soon, when I realized that I wanted to compete but at a higher level, I aimed to do it so but in a different country. That’s when a friend of mine from New York introduced me to Coffee Masters, the first edition in USA. I researched more about it and I realized it was the perfect competition for me, because it is a competition made with the highest coffee quality standards with different multi-disciplines that tests all the knowledge you have acquired in your career. 

 

I applied for London Coffee Masters 2017, even though I didn’t know what I was getting into. That year I placed 15^th out of 20 competitors and I wasn’t happy with the result. So, then I came back to Costa Rica and did my homework of getting better in all the different disciplines and applied for Coffee Masters again for 2018 but this time at New York. That was the year the I succeeded with my biggest dream ever.

 

Tell us about your experience competing in Coffee Masters New York: how did you prepare for a competition with so many elements? Were there particular skills or strategies that helped you succeed in the competition?

Coffee Masters was something I always dreamed of, but I think I wouldn’t make it without the help of so many people behind. I'm glad I made them proud of the work we have done.

I will say that my best strategy to prepare myself was to work with a team of people that had the same passion as me for what they do. So, first I got my coffee, an anerobic fermentation process of the first mill that started to ferment coffees here in Costa Rica. I always have loved fermenting, so when I knew there were this guy fermenting coffee at a mill, I had to run to see what he was doing. After getting my coffee, I gave it to my roaster and told him what I wanted for the presentation. I started to make some ideas for my signature drink I wanted to present, but I went to a friend of mine who is a professional Bartender. We worked on the signature drink together for two weeks. After getting everything for my application form, I started training every single day, after work with one of my best friends. He always stood next to me when I was training. He also helped me for the cupping and origin disciplines. My friend Victor is the Roaster and Tasters of the SCA here in Costa Rica, he always stayed with me after work and we did different routines so that I could practice every single discipline I was going to be tested. And of course, I wouldn’t make it with out the help of a friend called Wally, he lives in New York and he hosted me in New York for almost 9 days. During this time, he was my mentor and supported me during the days of the competition. I will treasure all his advice for the rest of my life. Believe me, you will always need someone in the backstage to pick you up on the floor when you think you can’t do it anymore.

 

What is the best coffee-related advice you’ve received?

Well, sometimes I get a little bit obsessed with coffee things and I will always try to get the best out of it in terms of preparations and extractions. But when I struggle to get the best out of a coffee, I get unhappy. I recall I time a friend of mine told me ‘Remember that coffee is a really complex seed and that you are never going to understand everything about it, just enjoy what you are doing and give it another shot’. So, when I’m always having a bad moment, I just recall to what he told me, and I try to take it easy on it. I just try to remember that a teacher is always going to be a student and I will never stop learning more about coffee.

 

Describe the importance of cleaning or clean equipment in making the best coffee beverages.

Well for me cleaning is everything- it’s not only that it is going to affect the quality of your coffee and the drinks you are pulling out. But it’s also your presentation card. If a customer enters to the coffee shop and notice that the machine isn’t cleaned enough and that the station is always messy, probably he is not coming back at your café or in this case. If I was the customer, I wouldn’t.

You are the coach of this year’s barista champion from Costa Rica. What have been the challenges and joys of coaching for you?

Well, being a coach is nice because you try to bring out the best of other people. For me, that feeling is more rewarding than anything else. Of course, I love to compete because it is challenging yourself to be better every time, but I also like to be next to someone else bringing out new ideas and to share your knowledge with others,  because I always have thought that two or more minds think better than one.

What is your go-to beverage order at a café?

I always will prefer to drink a pour over at a café but I also love espresso because I believe is one of the most complex drinks in coffee and because you need a lot of skills to pull out a really nice shot.

What is unique about coffee culture in Costa Rica?

I would say that here in Costa Rica we are privileged because we are located near the equator and we have really nice conditions to produce coffee. But we also have good soil and different places with different altitudes and climate conditions to produce coffee. This give us a broad range of flavors and cup profiles for our demanding consumers. For me that’s rewarding because I can get whatever cup profile a client wants to purchase. Also, Costa Rica is well known to produce one of the best honey process in the world, and that’s because our producers are always in the search of innovating and trying new techniques to process the coffee in different ways to have different results.

 

As a coffee professional from a coffee producing country, how is your perspective on coffee different than other professionals in the industry?

When I started in coffee, I was told that in consuming countries is where people know how to prepare really good coffees because here in producing countries, we didn’t know how to drink it. And well maybe some part of this is true, because most of our population drinks coffees of low quality. But this is because all our coffee is mainly exported, and we are left with less quality coffees. The reason for this is because people from other countries pay more money for our coffee, and for a producer it is worth it to export it rather than leave it to a customer that’s going to pay you less.

But I think that the main advantage we have from other professionals in the industry is that we live next to our coffee farms, so we have the ability to go whenever we want to bring the best seeds and to learn more at the farm rather than books or because someone else have told you.

 

What is one specialty coffee trend you would like to see gain popularity this year?

Well, I think that Bartenders and Baristas share the same passion and the same objective, serving awesome drinks to the customers. I had the opportunity to take some Mixology classes and to work with a professional Bartender here in Costa Rica when I was preparing myself for Coffee Masters and I think that both worlds can connect and start learning from each other. I would love to see more Baristas acquire more Bartender skills and knowledge of how to balance a drink with different preparations and of course I would love the same for the Bartenders and to see more specialty coffees in cocktail rooms.

 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

My personal aspirations are to be healthy, grateful and living a happy life with my son and with my wife.

My professional aspirations are to have my roasting company finished and to win the WBC at some point in my life, even if it means either myself or coaching another Barista from Costa Rica.