Andreas Mantzinos | Greek Comandante Champion

Job and currently city?

I am working as a barista at Hacienda café which is in Herakleio , the capital city of Crete Island , where I also live.

What means coffee to you?

It is difficult to describe what coffee really means to me just in a few words! Coffee is a whole new world. A world where I can travel just with a sip of a brew! Every single cup is a new experience.

Why do you love Comandante, where do you know Comandante from?

I love Comandante because of its quality, accuracy and its unique ability to cut the beans for a big range of brews .I also admire how gently Comandante ‘’treats’’ the beans in contrast to the electrical grinders. I discovered Commandante in my personal attempt to take homebrewing to a whole new level!

Why did you applied for the Comandante Championship?

The truth is that my application for the Championship was very unexpected. However, I applied because I believe that this kind of participations is a perfect way for a barista to share its passion for specialty coffee with other professionals!

What is your passion(engine) behind being a barista?

It’s simple…Every single smile that I see at people’s faces when they drink a perfect cup of coffee!

What are your further goals?

As I said earlier before I spent a lot of time to develop homebrewing! So my ambition is to help people with my work and my knowledge to learn more about coffee and make them have the ability to enjoy a good cup of coffee in their home!

How was the "Comandante Championship” and being a part of it?

The “Comandante Championship” was a great experience for me as it was my first participation to an official competition. Of course the fact that I took the first place, made it even better! At the end of the day I returned home with an awesome trophy but more importantly having met beautiful people, full of joy and love about what they’re doing !And that really actuated me to make the difference!

Recommendation for “ Comandante Championship” competitors?

Being cool,tasting and enjoy their brew is the secret!