We are pleased to hear that Mia Nikander and Ivan Ore, founders of Cafetoria, have been nominated for the “Coffee Influencer of the Year 2020”
Ivan has long been active in the Finnish coffee market. After graduating from Aalto University with a Master’s degree in Telecommunications, he worked for Nokia Networks as a research engineer developing 3G/4G mobile phone networks, but, at the same time, enthusiasm for coffee arose and he founded our small coffee roastery in 2002. Very soon our coffee roaster joined SCA and get involved in different coffee trainings around the world, including Switzerland and Belgium, South Korea and Italy.
Ivan is Finland’s first Cup tasting champion (2007), an important feature for a coffee roaster to know how to distinguish flavors and nuances. At the moment, in addition to roasting, Ivan also seems to be one of the few AST coffee trainers in Finland. He is an Authorized SCA Trainer for a few years now.
Mia Nikander has been promoting speciality coffees in Finland since our first batch of coffee arrived in 2003. Since then, she has been tireless promoting organic cultivation and specialty coffees. It is not a secret that, although she enjoys different kinds of coffees, her favourite one is the Peruvian coffee Gran Palomar. It is thanks to her efforts that the Peruvian smallholder farmers have been looking the future with hope and optimism knowing that they can count on the Finnish market.