Malaga's landmark coffee roaster: father and son qualify for AeroPress national finals

"We try to have a bit of everything, from blend, which is cleaner and more pleasant, to other rarer, complex or fruity varieties", says Nacho Prado, the head of this Malaga-based company, which includes another Nacho Prado, his son. Both have set a milestone: the younger one has just become Andalusian champion in the AeroPress category, the same title his father won last year.

But the milestone is even greater, as both have qualified for the national final, which gives a passport to the world final. In total, there will be eleven Andalusian aspirants. Among them, Adolfo Alaiz (Granada Coffee Blend), María Alonso Quiroga (Mia Coffee), Mauro Cabrera (Sagrado Specialty Coffee), and Juan Miguel Bertani (Bertani Café). Along with Prado Ramos, the podium was completed by David Vargas and Jonathan Calderón.

Perhaps the Malaga father and son thing is genetic. Nacho Prado Fernández-Baca got the bug when his family ran the legendary Café Central. He started working there 25 years ago. It was at that time that he became interested in this world. At first, as a barista and, later, with the aim of "getting the best speciality coffee". In the end he became a roaster, opening Artisan just a few days before the pandemic. Despite this, far from throwing in the towel, he has been growing and becoming stronger.

Initially, it supplied Central itself, and little by little it has been extending to other cafeterias. Thanks also, in part, to Nacho Prado Ramos, his son. He has also internalised this passion for coffee to the point that he has just won first prize in the regional phase of the AeroPress championship. "It's not that it was something I had there since I was a child, it was little by little", recalls this 22-year-old who talks about coffee as if he had been in the sector for another 22 years.

"We like balanced coffees, enhancing their sweetness with a fruity touch," he sums up, stressing that the keys are in the temperature, the amount of water, the grinding and the agitation to win the first places in the AeroPress competition, which is carried out with a filter coffee machine, but by means of pressure, which infuses the coffee. "Any change in these variables changes the flavour," warns Prado Fernández-Baca.

He assures us that we have to be "very methodical". "We even have the name of the producer and the farm where it comes from, it's all about maintaining the value chain," he adds, aware that the world of coffee is an "emerging sector that requires constant improvement because it changes so much".

That's why father and son are serious about tasting "lots and lots of coffee". They recognise flavours and nuances easily. They are passionate about it. They don't need to swear by it. They can spend hours and hours between coffee beans without realising it. They can roast around a thousand kilos a month. They have their audience. And it is a large one. Both outside, with online sales, and inside, with direct consumers, coffee shops and also online.

"In general, people are starting to drink better coffee. In recent years there has been a big change in mentality. Before it was seen as something you drank just to wake up, today more and more people are looking for it as a gourmet experience," say the Prados, who change their menu every two months or so.

They have made Artisan a dynamic business. Such is their success that they are already planning an extension with a new warehouse in Campanillas. "We needed more space. We already sell to the whole of Spain and to many coffee shops both in Malaga and in other Andalusian provinces such as Cadiz," says Nacho Prado. In this case, the father. But he could also be the son. Both feel the same bond with Artisan. They will be known by smell. Also by ear. Here sounds the Kanka', they announce at the entrance. And there it is in the background. One hundred percent Malagueños.