EL CAMINO DE CAFÉ [I] Barcelona - Zaragoza

EL CAMINO DE CAFÉ [I]

Barcelona - Zaragoza

It’s nearly 4:00 PM on this early November afternoon as I finally gaze out at the Atlantic sun on a beach in A Coruña, Galicia. With a wonderful nomad picnic spread out in front of me on the sand and a freshly squeezed Minipresso in hand, I’m just warming up from a quick celebratory swim in the ocean waves. A dip to seal the promise I made myself while back in Barcelona to touch the salty waters on either side of the Iberian Peninsula.

Rewind two weeks.

I’m on the Mediterranean – a backpack fastened to both sides of my bike rack, trudging through the sand in my cycling cleats, Lycra holding everything together. As I lean down to put my hand in the sea, I take a moment to consider what I’m getting myself into. I’m not a touring cyclist after all; the longest trip I’ve made at this point wasn’t even for two consecutive days. The thought finds its place in the back of my mind, and I take my first few pedal strokes west with only 1,092 km to go.

Coffee is all about connections and collaborations. Whether it’s in the café where local communities come together, or it’s in the fields where coffee is being grown and processed by the farmers, it’s this theme that drew me into the rabbit hole of specialty coffee in the first place. The basis for this trek was to continue my coffee research in a part of Spain less-explored, make connections with the innovators of the industry, and showcase nomadic coffee brewing along the way. I had done a lot of research before my trip, specific to my route, but with essentially nothing surfacing on the web, personal connections (and a fair amount of luck) would prove to be more relevant than I could have imagined.

HITTING THE ROAD [CATALUNYA]

They say the first few days of bike journey can be the hardest, well, I’m not sure if they actually say that, but it was what I assumed. In my case, the two days it took me to get out of Catalonia definitely put me to the test. By the time I made the 70 km trek and 1000 m climb up to my first stop in Igualada, a small town on the edge of Barcelona Province, I was completely famished. Fortunately, a few friends graciously let me use an empty family apartment for the night where I could cook up a mountain of food, and get some serious rest for the following morning – the same morning when coffee would have the opportunity to prove our true friendship.

With the long roads ahead into northern Spain, where access to good coffee was the biggest unknown, I knew I had to be strategic in packing my travel brew kit. Enter Minipresso – a coffee device literally designed for adventure. In a quick email conversation with the team at Wacaco Ltd, mere weeks before my departure, they became another major collaborator on my project. That morning in Igualada gave me my first go with the brewer on the road. Opening a fresh bag of Nicaraguan coffee from La Fabrica, and playing around a bit with grind size on my hand mill, I squeezed out a few inaugural shots to jumpstart my ride, and I was ready to hit the open road. Ninety three fairly flat kilometres later, I found myself in Lleida, connected with a few couchsurfers, and prepped for the next day.

SAN JORGE [ZARAGOZA]

After 3 more days of pedaling, leaving Catalonia behind and traversing the Monegro Desert ‘on a bike with no name…’ (I started calling him Green Giant), I was pulling up on Zaragoza just when the dreary skies that had been forming above began to leak. Fortunately, I had made contact with a couchsurfer earlier in the day who was more than willing to put me up for the night, but the confirmation was conditional. Jorge wouldn’t be available until 11:30 that night, and it was still around 4, so I began searching for a spot in town that might be a bit more coffee-forward to chat about any new and exciting things happening in the local scene. In compromise, the couchsurfer gave me my first lead.

As the name might suggestion, La Cicleria was a cycling-café that had opened its doors just one year prior. It had previously existed as a “Chill Lounge”, but had been transformed into a space now serving coffee, light snacks, and also operating a bike co-op in the back. They even had a charla [chat] space downstairs for events and special talks.

I got chatting with one of the bike mechanics there about my trip and project, and he told me about a bike shop on the other side of town, Ciclofacteria, that I had to check out as they were currently starting a collaborating with a new local roaster called San Jorge. Hoping for another lead, I quickly found them on Instagram, and shot a DM. As fate would have it, Borja from the shop happened to be home with the flu and responded to my message right away. Graciously, with need to get out of the house, and discovering that I was only around for one day, he insisted that we go pay a visit to the roastery.

Feeling bad to drag him out of bed, but also selfishly ecstatic for the opportunity, I thanked the mechanic, jumped in the car, and we were off to the countryside. Borja explained how he collaborates with Ezequiel who had been roasting for a while now “under the radar” in his home (which I soon realized was more of an Hacienda). We arrived at his gates just as the last light from the shrouded sun disappeared, and the roaster himself welcomed us in out the rain.

At the moment, Ezequiel is the only specialty roaster in Zaragoza, and he had only been pursuing coffee for 4 years so far. I got the grand tour of the roasting room, we tried a few espressos from various origins, and Borja did a few last practice brews for the Aeropress Competition he was entering the following day, ironically in Barcelona.

Before making our way back into the city to catch my Couchsurfing friend, conveniently named Jorge as well, I was given yet another lead to a roaster located in Leon, exactly on route, named San Agustin (they love their saints), and I took a minute to shoot them an email as well.

Until PART II, I leave you with this super rough cut of Instagram Stories I recorded on the first leg of my journey.

FOOTNOTES

An extended version of The Field Report published in the April + May 2017 Twelfth Anniversary Issue of Barista Magazine.