One of the few baristas with Qgrader certification in Brazil, Osnei is also synonym for Minas Gerais’ simplicity and sympathy
Born Osnei Gilvan Cesarino, also known as Osnei, from Academia do Café, is one of the most experienced baristas in Brazil. He is the type of person who, when you look at him for the first time, you feel as if you knew him for a long time, so simpatico he is.
Osnei is from Ponte Nova, Minas Gerais, a coffee producer region. His parents and grandparents worked on the production of commodity coffee. His paternal grandfather was a small producer and his maternal grandfather worked for other owners’ plantations.
“When I was a child, I loved to play in coffee plantations with my friends. But I only got interested in coffee as profession when I was in Belo Horizonte, working with hotel services”, he tells.
Falling in love with special coffees
As it happens, the hotel where I was working hosted an unusual event, for the time: the first barista tournament in Minas Gerais. “That’s when my passion for special coffees started”, he recalls.
Since I didn’t know much about the subject, I started to seek information. Osnei recalls that in BH there were only two coffee shops working with special coffees: Santa Sofia and Kalua, pioneer in the art of espresso preparation in the capital.
“Though in love for special coffees, I still worked in the hotel sector for eight years. Only after this period I decided to come to São Paulo to study”, he says.
He attended a barista course at Senac in 2001 and started to work in some coffee shops in Minas Gerais. He developed projects to inaugurate three different coffee shops. In one of them, T Café, a tea and special coffee house, he loved the métier. But, unfortunately, the owners had to close the shop early.
International experience
It was at that time, 2011, that he met Bruno Sousa, from Academia do Café in BH and they started to work together 10 months after the house inauguration. A partnership that still renders good fruits.
“I attended many courses with Bruno and with Marty Curtis, one of the best roasters worldwide. My QGrader certification I obtained along with Marty, in 2013, a great honor for me. And I kept on studying, complementing with SCAA barista international certification, among other programs”, he tells with pride.
After so many efforts, Osnei moved in to Oregon, in the USA, to improve his art of coffee preparation. The North-American state is reference in special coffees, and is a pioneer in terms of special grains and equipment. “There I met some of the best roasteries, operations of the most important coffee shops and could participate in Seatle International Fair, by SCAA. All this experience changed my life”, he tells with emotion.
Back to Brazil, Osnei participated in several regional barista tournaments and was member of the jury in two of them. “My big problem at the time is that I studied while participating in the tournament, which compromised the expected performance. In my two attempts, I exceeded the time limit, it was a pity”, he explains.
This is the big difference between the American and the Brazilian special coffee scenarios, he comments. “There they take the special coffee more seriously, they are much more professionals”, he complaints.
Compete and judge
Osnei lists several difficulties faced by Brazilian baristas: “ in order to train for the competition, one has to make every effort, count on appropriate equipment, good origin milk available and, chiefly, establish a daily and intense training routine. At that time, I didn’t even have a cup”, he tells.
Though being an authentic ‘mineiro’, Osnei does not sit on the fence. When he sees failures, he shows them. And one of them refers to the level of judges in barista competitions in Brazil, where he participated in 2014 and 2015. “In general, the level of judges must improve a lot. A lot of technique is required for you to judge the barista work. “You must understand, in-depth, what is an espresso, and I didn’t see that”, he explains.
Teacher life
In addition to managing Academia do Café in São Paulo, he is also instructor at courses: Barista, Extraction Methods, Drinks with Coffee, provided by the house.
Osnei is also critic of the routine: “it is not because the barista attended a course long ago that he knows everything. Methodologies and studies keep on changing, one has to refresh, all the time”, he ponders.
And this is also one of the reasons why he likes to teach at Academia do Café. “The great advantage of the instructor is that he feels the same emotion while teaching the same thing a thousand times. What is most difficult is not how to teach, but how to learn. Because at each course that I teach, I learn a lot. I have to adapt myself to the group profile, which is sometimes more technical, other times more sensory, and all that is important”, he says.
On the corner, what he likes most is to provide the customer with a new experience of tastes and aromas, offering micro-lots selected by the house personnel. “I prepare around 100 espressos each day and, each cup is always a great and differentiated pleasure”, he concludes. These are the words of a great barista!
