Market Day Challenge
On Sunday morning, teams Sapa Inca and Blackfoot traveled one hour on muddy, pot-holed roads away from Finca la Encañada to the weekly market in the nearby town of Rioja. There, they faced off in again in their third challenge.
The task: Set up a table at the market and brew and sell coffee for the people shopping at the markets. Selling coffee at the equivalent of 20 cents per cup, the team who sells the most coffee wins.
Provided materials: Water kettles, manual coffee grinders, two pour-overs, and single-origin beans from northern Peru
One might ask how serving coffee could be considered a challenge for twelve national champion baristas. But if you are used to sleek cafés, the finest coffee gadgets, and selling to American and European coffee connoisseurs, setting up a table at the Sunday Market in Rioja, Peru is an entirely different beast. The market-goers do not treat coffee as a go-to beverage, and if they do drink it, they tend to drink it with lots of milk and sugar. Both of the teams quickly realized that they needed to improvise if they were going to stay afloat in the competition. With a small budget for add-ins, Sapa Inca and Blackfoot got creative: purchasing sugar and cookies to lure in customers, or introducing their customers to sweet, milky iced coffee.
Both teams’ tables were crowded with customers throughout the entire day; the Baristas spent the day bent over boiling kettles and counting change. Rioja’s market-goers were excited to see baristas and meet people from other countries, and the local television station even showed up to report!
The winners: Team Sapa Inca once again takes the prize, selling 101 Peruvian Soles (about $36) worth of coffee, while Team Blackfoot made out with 86 soles (about $30).
Below, a live audio update from Katie.
