Premier Training Campus Spotlight: abcoffee
Premier Training Campus experts Diogo Amorim and Hugo Ferraz call the campus’ seaside location of Porto, Portugal work and home.
Premier Training Campuses (PTC) are Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) member companies or organizations whose facilities have been inspected and certified by the SCA. The program recognizes that these facilities offer an exceptional education setting for coffee education.
This week, Diogo Amorim and Hugo Ferraz, trainers at abcoffee’s Premier Training Campus tell us about the Campus located in Porto, Portugal.
Hugo Ferraz (left) and Diogo Amorim (right) trainers at abcoffee’s Premier Training Campus
Recently, the two coffee trainers combined their expertise and opened abcoffee training school, providing the “opportunity to the local community to learn more about coffee.” The space has now been a certified Premier Training Campus for just over three years. abcoffee and its staff teach a large number of SCA modules including Introduction to Coffee, Barista Skills, Roasting, Brewing, Sensory Skills, and Green Coffee.
Despite being the only two trainers at the school, Amorim and Ferraz have a wealth of knowledge between them.
Diogo Amorim holds a Master’s Degree in Coffee Economics and Science from Trieste University. Along with education and training abilities, he is also a certified Q Arabica and Q Robusta grader. Diogo is the main trainer for modules in Roasting, Green Coffee, and Sensory Skills. He also happens to be the founder and head roaster at Senzu Coffee Roasters.
Hugo Ferraz is the main trainer for the SCA Barista and Brewing modules at abcoffee. In 2019, Ferraz competed and went on to place third at the Portuguese Barista Championship. He also founded his own coffee shop Cha das Cinco.
So what made the two trainers decide to open up and certify their own training space? “Well once we do something, we want to do it the best way possible,” states Amorim’, so certifying the facility was the only way to make sure we follow all the needs to become a premium facility.”
Another motivation to open the training center was the local coffee community. While the community is far from the largest in Portugal, it is one that is passionate and tightly knit. “The local coffee community is very small but very close. There is still far more room to grow, but it is growing! However, the coronavirus closed many of the small businesses. The community does try to get together for small events and group chats, sometimes between several roasters and cafes.”
On the subject of the recent and ongoing coronavirus pandemic, abcoffee has also taken a number of steps to continue training while staying as safe as possible. The number of students per training session is now kept at a minimum to observe proper social distancing, all trainers and trainees wear masks while inside the facilities, and staff regularly disinfect equipment and surfaces. Students are also given their own equipment to work on by themselves.
Both Ferraz and Amorim see the prospect of creating one of the top training locations and an exciting future as their main driving forces. “It is knowing that whatever comes we need to go through, fight, and move on. Also a lot of coffee helps, yeah it probably is also because we drink a lot of coffee!
Find out more about the Porto based Premier Training Campus and its schedule of official classes now. Website - www.abcoffee.co
Achieving SCA Campus certification offers global recognition of a company’s dedication to make coffee better. Learn more about how to get your own training facility certified here.
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Photos from abcoffee’s Premier Training Camps