From the Bar to the Farm and back again
We spoke with Jean Trinh, operator of the ‘Alquímico’ bar in Cartagena, Colombia
© Jean Trinh
When the coronavirus pandemic forced Colombia to impose a rigid lockdown, bar operator Jean Trinh and his team decided to head to the countryside. From this time onwards, they have been growing their own organic-quality ingredients as part of an effort to take their country's tremendous biodiversity and put it into a glass – all in keeping with their philosophy: #fromthebartothefarm. Thanks to his dedication, Trinh was presented with the ‘Altos Bartender’s Bartender’ award by The World’s 50 Best Bars 2022. Trinh, a French national with Vietnamese roots, will be presenting his unique concept and the fascinating story behind it at this year’s Bar Convent Berlin. We had the opportunity to speak to him about this today.
BCB: Jean, I’d like to begin by congratulating you on winning the Altos Bartender’s Bartender award.
Jean Trinh: Thank you very much. I’m very honoured by this distinction, and our whole team is happy. The award gives us a great chance to show the world what we are doing here in Colombia – and not just with regard to bartending, but also in the fields of agriculture and the crafts.
To make it clear what this is all about, I think we need to go back to the beginning. A few years ago, you purchased a farm. What made you do this?
Jean: When I came to Colombia, I quickly realised that it was quite difficult to find out where the fruit and meat in the supermarket came from. This information does not appear on products nearly as often in South America as it does in Europe. And I dreamt of growing everything myself. The coffee-producing region (editor’s note: this is where the farm is located) is very fertile. It is calm there, as well as unbelievably beautiful. In 2018 I had the opportunity to purchase some land in this region, a small farm with coffee plants. My plan was to grow lots of ingredients for the bar there, but I was so busy and on the road so much that I just never got around to it.
Then the coronavirus came.
Jean: And there was no help from the state whatsoever. Many businesses simply fired their staff from one day to the next. But the most important thing in any bar is the team, and there was no way that I was going to let my people go.
So what did you do?
Jean: Zoom master classes. We were supported by our friends and colleagues around the world. We also worked on our new menus. That was the deal I made with my people: I’ll pay you 100 percent of your wages if you’re online during your normal working hours. This not only gave me the chance to teach them something, but also allowed me to see every day that everyone was still okay.
How many people were on your team at the time?
Jean: 55.
Responsibility for a big team and a huge financial challenge.
Jean: We got through the first month of the pandemic pretty well, but I was very worried, because I knew that we only had enough money to get through one more month like that. On 15 April I phoned my family in France. I’m the youngest of six children, and one of my sisters told me not to worry so much: “You can take your people to the farm with you!” My first thought? What a stupid idea. Back then, the farm wasn’t really much more than a bamboo roof. But then I got to thinking: was it really such a bad idea? I called the construction engineer who had put up the roof and asked him if he would be able to convert it into a house... for more than 50 people!
And what did he say?
Jean: He said it would be possible – it's that positive Colombian vibe (laughs). So I decided to call a meeting: “I've got two pieces of news for you. Firstly, from 15 May, I won’t be able to pay you any more, because otherwise I’ll go bankrupt. And that would be bad for all of us. But secondly, if one month from now you come with me to the farm, I'll pay for everything – your move out there, room, board and construction materials. You’ll have to give up your current flats so that we can keep a lid on costs. It’s the only way that we’ll be able to make it.” Naturally I gave them a few days to think it over, and I used that time to make some calls to other people in the industry. The feedback? “Crazy!” “Biggest hippy idea I’ve ever heard of!”
How many people on your team said: “I’m coming with you”?
Jean: Half of them – particularly the ones who are not from Cartagena and who don’t have any relatives here. Of course I understood why the others wanted to stay with their families in that situation. Some of them are actually back working with me again. There were even two children who joined us on the farm – they were just two and four years old at the time.
Sounds like the start of a film: A group of people leaves a city in lockdown in search of a far-off farm. What was your first impression when you arrived?
Jean: We quickly realised that we would not be able to live under the bamboo roof – especially not with children. It wasn’t a good feeling, and everyone had given notice on their flats. This wasn’t some fun weekend adventure – we had no idea how long we would be staying. Luckily we ended up being able to board at a nearby farm, and we returned to our farm every morning to start work.
© Jean Trinh
I read that you split up into two groups, one for building a house, and another for farming.
Jean: The funny thing? All of the women on my team wanted to be in the building group. They all told me: “We want to learn how to do that!” We hired five older craftsmen to help with construction, and when they saw the girls with their blue hair and tattoos wearing shorts ... you should have seen their faces. “No way!” (laughs). But somehow, it all worked out. In the beginning they were shown how to build walls, but they wanted to learn so much more – mixing concrete and you name it.
Bartending is also a craft.
Jean: After three weeks had passed, we got a call from the owner of the farm where we were spending our nights. He told us that he had sold his property and that he needed the keys back in three weeks. Once that happened, all of us began working on the construction side, since we knew we’d soon have to leave his place. After about six weeks in total, we were able to move into our farm.
What did you plant? Did you start off by growing food so that you would have something to eat?
Jean: That’s exactly what we did. Already in the first few weeks of lockdown, I could see in our Zoom calls that some of the people in our team were gaining weight. They were ordering rich meals and doing almost no physical activity (editor’s note: in Colombia, people were practically forbidden to leave their flats during the lockdown). Right from the start, I made it clear that we would not be ordering any pizzas or burgers – we couldn’t afford to, either. Six days of the week, we would eat the things we grew there, and on the seventh day would have a barbecue. Most of the team weren't used to eating a vegetarian diet and really wanted to have some meat. But you know what? Already after the first Sunday, they wanted to have white meat instead, then it was fish ... and after a month, almost everyone wanted to stick entirely to a vegetarian diet, because they noticed that they were feeling better. In fact, one of our employees lost 28 kilos. And the improvements weren’t limited to the physical realm – people also felt mentally better, as well. At the bar, you can’t always see how people really feel. There are lots of people who are confident when they are at the bar, but something else entirely in their private lives.
That all sounds fascinating. But any time there is a large group of people living in such close quarters, there’s sure to be a kind of group dynamic and disagreements, aren’t there?
Jean: Right from the beginning, I told everyone that work would not be the most difficult thing for us. It would be living together. We weren’t simply spending eight hours a day with one another here. We were all together 24 hours a day. There were so many different personality types. Bartenders ... I’m sure you can imagine (laughs). I had to make a lot of rules and put them in writing early on. One of these was that if anyone finds that they have had enough in any situation, they should take a step back. We respect that, and it's totally understandable that these things happen sometimes. Yet if one or two people become unreasonable, the whole enterprise can quickly be thrown into chaos. Looking back, however, I can say that we had a truly incredible time, and I will never forget it.
The bar has long since reopened, and the farm is now supplying you with ingredients. What do you grow there?
Jean: The farm is eleven hectares in size, and we’ve reforested about half of it with local tree species. We used the rest of the land to plant ten different varieties of citrus trees – 400 trees in all. It will still be a few years before we can begin harvesting fruit – apart, that is, from the few citrus fruits we harvest from the trees that were already there. But we’re already able to use the herbs, coffee and vegetables that we grow on the farm – as well as the coca plants.
For drinks?
Jean: Coca plants have a long tradition in Colombia. Mambe (editor’s note: a fine powder made from toasted coca leaves) was used by indigenous peoples for medicinal purposes and was served at important gatherings. One of the things we use this for is to make a cordial for our ‘Ayu’ cocktail. Using coca leaves is actually a big trend in the hospitality sector here. Chefs really want to communicate a different image for this amazing plant.
What are the logistics like? After all, the farm is located more than 800 kilometres away from the bar.
Jean: We always have a team at the farm so that we can produce our syrups, cordials, honey and such. We send a big delivery to Cartagena about three or four times a month. Logistics can be difficult in Colombia, so it sometimes takes days for these deliveries to arrive, and this is something that we always have to account for.
Do all these efforts make sense financially? Is there any way that it can be compared to conventional modes of procurement?
Jean: It really is hard to compare the two, especially as I cannot even get many of these ingredients from conventional suppliers. Yes, it’s obviously a major investment, but it is helping us more and more every day. I also see it as a tool for training, for the team and for our patrons, because we are able to talk to them about our ingredients and tell them where they come from. And they are happy to pay for this. The 400 citrus trees will be supplying us with lots of organic-quality fruit in years to come, and that is a great thing. I’ve shown some of our customers around the farm, and they said that if anything goes wrong for them, they’ll be moving in with me (laughs)! As for myself, I now spend more time at the farm or travelling to other providers with whom are working.
Do you have any plans to make the whole thing even bigger and get other bars and restaurants involved?
Jean: We are already supplying a number of our friends who have restaurants and bars. We also share information and contacts in order to promote the sales of our partner producers. But no, I do not intend to become a big-time farmer (laughs). Organic products do not enjoy anywhere near the status or respect in Colombia that they do in Europe, which means that many people are not yet willing to pay more for these goods. Yet it works for us: our bar is big – it is spread across three storeys – so our consumption is enormous. And we continue to learn a great deal – each and every day. There are still a lot of things that can be further optimised between the farm and the bar. We’ve only been doing this for two and a half years, so it’s quite a new venture, really.
Many thanks, Jean, we wish you and your team all the best.
Main Stage
Monday, 10th Oct
18:00 - 19:00
On 11 October (Tuesday), the ‘Wax On!’ bar in the Neukölln district of Berlin will be taken over by Jean Trinh from ‘‘Alquímico’. One of the drinks that he will be mixing is the ‘Ayu’ cocktail with whiskey and a coca-and-lemon-verbena cordial. Presented by Monkey Shoulder. More information is available here.
