A 32-year old Greek named Nikos Kanakaris is the winner of the 2016 ‘Barista & Farmer’ TV reality show. Nikos, who made it into the finals after being selected among 200 other contestants, lived and worked in a commune in Brazil with the other 10 finalists (5 men and 5 women) for 10 days.
There, all the competitors were judged on their performance on the cultivation, collection and processing of coffee beans, as well as their ideas on new ways of consuming and presenting the beverage.
Nikos was deemed by the top of the 10 competitors, with Russian Olga Kaplina coming in second and local favourite Raphael Ferraz De Souza third. The competition is under the auspices of the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) and this year’s theme was ‘environmental sustainability and the presentation of the production and coffee supply chain’.
Kanakaris received the highest aggregate score based on his overall performance in different tests, including the highest coffee harvest and his team spirit.