Meet Sofia Ferraz, an absolute Wonder Woman creating community events in Portugal. Sofia is the current National Coordinator of SCA Portugal and together with her husband she runs Porto and Lisbon Coffee Weeks – the biggest and most community-oriented coffee festivals in the country.
Sofia lives coffee community daily and constantly comes up with ideas on how to make coffee events more sustainable and accessible. Even more, she puts those ideas into reality! We can’t wait to see the festivals grow and inspire organizers around the world to make their events even better!
Sofia, what is your first memory with coffee?
I’d say drinking heavily sugary coffee in the USA when I was 16. Although espresso is a very Portuguese thing, and my parents had a bakery/traditional coffee shop, I was never interested in it until I lived in the USA at 16 years old and everyone drank coffee.
What inspired you to pursue a career in the coffee industry, and how did you get started? What did you do before coffee?
I hold a Master’s degree in Graphic Design but went into baking right after school, opening my first café/bakery at only 25. At the time my now-husband, who was my partner in the project, didn’t know how to bake so he had no idea what to do in a bakery on a day-to-day basis – eventually, we decided he should learn about coffee and I did the first introductory courses with him.
From then on, coffee was his thing, I handled the cakes, but because we worked and lived together, it was impossible for me not to keep learning from him! He became an AST and I started to attend some of his courses. He participated in the Portugal Barista Championship three times and I was with him every step of the way, even helping him as a coach backstage.
When he placed 2nd I was challenged by the barista placing 3rd to host a “meet the baristas” event. And… that was it! I started doing coffee events!
Can you tell us a bit about Tasteology and your projects?
Tasteology’s goal is to grow the coffee community.
We started with Porto Coffee Week, a festival that is a celebration of the community, of coffee and of the people in coffee in Portugal. Porto Coffee Week lasts a week, we hold 3 to 4 coffee events per day (workshops, networking parties and dinners, and competitions) in pop-up locations throughout the city, taking participants to new coffee shops and restaurants working with specialty coffee, and then we do the Coffee Market, a “traditional” coffee venue, with roasters and other exhibitors, around 10 talks per day, championships and more.
We’ve also started Lisbon Coffee Week(end) and we’re very excited to keep the project in Lisbon in 2025 and grow it to a full week of events.
Aside from that, we’ve started a subscription box with all the Portuguese specialty coffee roasters, where we choose three different roasters per month and feature them with a dedicated recipe in our box. This is our way of helping people buy from different roasters and making it more accessible for consumers to buy from roasters all over Portugal.
We’re now dipping our toes in merchandising for coffee lovers, putting my degree to good use!
We need to be able to use the knowledge we have in specialty coffee to help everyone in coffee to grow.
Sofia Cação Lemos da Costa Ferraz
Running festivals and big projects requires getting into the shoes of quite a few roles. Which tasks/responsibilities do you enjoy the most and which ones do you love to delegate?
Ooooh this is a hard one! I’ve been doing 99% of the work, 2024 was the first time I had a good team supporting me!
The first thing I delegated was social media – I have ADHD so for me it’s out of sight, out of mind, so keeping the Porto Coffee Week Instagram active and replying to messages was very hard to remember.
Then I have a colleague taking care of keeping track of all the things I scatter around – his officially in marketing, but he’s also making sure I don’t forget important things, replying to emails (it’s so much easier to just let him know my thoughts on a voice message quickly than to sit down and actually write an email!), making lists and keeping everything organized. Oh, and he’s also “a bad cop”! So if you get a “No”, it’s probably coming from him.
As for what I love most, I think it’s coming up with different ideas, going to other shows and figuring out what I want to bring to ours and what I can learn to not repeat in ours, and, on top of it all, it’s getting to know all the amazing people and what brings them to coffee.
We noticed that the festivals you create bring real change to the industry. Could you tell us how and why they differ from “classic” industry fairs?
Thank you! It’s amazing to hear that we’re reaching the main goal. There is always this impostor syndrome creeping on you when you organize something like this with no previous experience and without a big team or big company behind you.
Back when I was in school, I used to do international industry fairs in the paper industry. Then when I got into coffee, I started to go to coffee industry fairs, and they were just the same! For me, as someone not in charge of purchasing, there was nothing to do – I spent 1 hour in the venue and I saw everything. That’s not what I wanted for Porto Coffee Week.
For me, the events had to allow people to learn – through the workshops and the talks -, to network outside of the politeness of an industry fair (to actually connect!), to have fun and to be able to actually buy stuff with help of trained baristas and, if possible, discounts. Today Porto Coffee Week is an event that moves through the city, brings the celebration to different locations, brings big coffee names to be in person with the consumers, and that, in the end, has a Coffee Market – in the true sense of the word – you can go to the venue to buy coffee, equipment, merchandise and more, besides listening to talks all day long for all coffee levels and watch competitions.
Do you have any wishes for the future of coffee? Something that you really cheer for or some aspects that definitely should change?
I hope that we can learn that we don’t all need to like or work with specialty – we need to care about the product. We need to be able to use the knowledge we have in specialty coffee to help everyone in coffee to grow – even the traditional Portuguese coffee shops. If we can get them to care about cleaning their machines, about not re-steaming milk, about understanding that they need good water to make decent coffee… that would make a difference for everyone in the industry – from the producer to the roaster, to the espresso machine companies and the baristas.
What kind of community do you hope to build around your events, and how do you plan to foster that sense of community?
It’s important for me to stay humble and close. To actually be present at all events and to reply to emails and pick up the phone when you need something urgent – whether you’re a participant or an exhibitor. This proximity is the community for me.
Community is knowing that I can ask for help if I need to and that I will always try to help to the best of my abilities. At the end of the day, I want everyone to know that I’m just a person, that other people on our team are just people and that we all try our best in the name of coffee culture.
What are the current trends in cafes in your region? Are there any trends you promote yourself and would like to see more often in other places?
Coffee trends in Portugal are always a bit behind! We’re still big on brunch (understandably) and matcha is big right now. For me, it would be very interesting to see coffee shops investing in signature drinks. Not only would this set cafes apart from each other and create unique menus, but these are also great for business (bigger margins).
What do you think is the most important quality for a barista to have, and why?
Everyone can learn how to pull a shot or how to steam milk, but an amazing barista can connect with the client, explain what they’re drinking and show them how amazing coffee can be.
What is one piece of coffee knowledge you would like everyone to have?
Speaking for the Portuguese consumer – to know the difference between bitter and sour!
What coffee challenges are you looking forward to? Any new collaborations or exciting developments in 2025 that we should expect?
We’re getting ready for Lisbon Coffee Week in April 2025 in the same format as Porto Coffee Week, and working on an exciting Porto Coffee Week in October 2025. We have so much in the works right now, but I don’t want to make any promises yet! Stay tuned to our social media and newsletter to know everything first-hand.
Quick Fire Questions for Sofia Ferraz:
Do you ever take sugar with your coffee?
I will drink an occasional pumpkin spice latte!
Espresso or Filter coffee?
Filter coffee.
Milky or Black?
Milky.
Do you aim for Sweetness, Acidity, or Body?
Acidity.
Slurp or Spit?
Spit.
Hobby besides coffee?
Cooking!
Favourite piece of barista equipment?
Tongue!
