Champion Kenyan Barista brews coffee connections in Hood River

A Kenyan came to Hood River to learn about coffee. A Nairobi coffee house owner visited the Northwest to learn to grind, steam and pour the perfect latte. The idea may see, counter-intuitive, sort of like “carrying coals to Newcastle” inside out. Kenya is one of the largest producers of coffee beans in the world; so its champion barista, Peter Owati comes to Hood River?

Makes perfect sense to the Gorge coffee folks that helped bring Owiti to Hood River: Tammy Ballard of Geno’s Coffee, as well as Mark Hudon of Hood River Coffee Co. and White Salmon, WA’s David Roche, whose Coffee Quality Institute works with non-governmental agencies to help coffee growers in the developing nations.

Kenyan roasters as well as coffee houses and baristas have much to learn about the optimum preparation of the fruit of Kenyan’s famed caffeinated cash crop. Owiti, 30, owns Pete’s Coffee, a café in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city (and one of Africa’s largest). He also teaches baristas in coffee outlets at two large schools for American and British students. Owiti got into the coffee business four years ago. “I have a passion for coffee. I was born for this,” he said.

He shares the skills that earned him the 2004 Champion Barista of Kenya. But from Geno’s espresso bar and the roasters at Hood River Coffee Company, as well as other roasters and cafes in Vancouver, B.C., Seattle and Portland, OR, Owiti is learning about products, technique and equipment he hopes to return with to Nairobi. “I am making very good contacts,” he said.” I have learned that people in Hood River and the Northwest also have a real passion for coffee, and they are concerned with the best quality”

He competed in the 2004 world competition in Trieste, Italy, placing 18th out of 37. There he showed his skills at basic coffee drinks, cappuccino, and four other specialty drinks of his own concoction-all in just 15 minutes. (In one, he layered Kenyan Kahawa Tropicana coffee with mango juice in a martini glass and topped it with crushed chocolate) But when it comes to daily coffee drinking, he said, “I like my macchiato.” Or rather, watch him make one himself, carefully heating up the milk and balancing aeration, temperature and the coffee ground tamp to create a smooth, foam-laden concoction.

Macchiato means “marked” in Italian, and the drink is so-named for the finishing mark the barista “carves” in the foam at the center of the cup. Owiti’s mark was that of a pear, complete with leaf and stem, but he smiled at the fact because in this case it was by happy chance the he created the mark of the county’s main cash crop.