TYPICA GUIDE Special GuestsTYPICA GUIDE Special Nominators

Special Nominators are a panel of coffee producers, roasters and prominent coffee lovers from various fields.
They will be at the venue of Final Round, too.

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  Business

  Founder and Executive Chairperson of DeNA Co., Ltd.

  Tomoko Namba

  Namba joined consulting firm McKinsey & Company in 1986. After earning a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School in 1990, she was appointed as Partner (executive) at McKinsey & Company in 1996. She founded DeNA in 1999, and now serves as Executive Chairperson. She became the owner of the Yokohama DeNA Baystars professional baseball team in 2015. She is the author of “Bukakko Keiei,” among other books.

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  Food and Beverage Industry

  Owner Chef of Quintessence

  Shuzo Kishida

  Kishida was born in Aichi Prefecture in 1974. After training at multiple restaurants in Japan and France, he further honed his craft under the tutelage of Pascal Barbot, chef at Astrance in Paris. After returning to Japan, Kishida opened Quintessence in May 2006. The restaurant was awarded three stars in MICHELIN Guide Tokyo 2008, published in 2007, and has won the accolade every year since.

• 

  Music

  Hip hop artist

  KREVA

  KREVA made a solo major-label debut with a single titled “Neiro” in 2004. Throughout his career, he has always blazed a new trail for solo hip hop artists. He also makes songs for various artists and produces other musicians’ works. He does everything himself, from writing lyrics, composing music, track making, rapping, and producing other artists’ songs. KREVA is one of the most important figures in Japan’s music scene.

• 

  Media

  Executive editor and director of sustainability at WWDJAPAN

  Chizuru Muko

  A native of Yokohama City, Muko graduated from Tokyo Woman's Christian University and started her career at EDWIN. She joined INFAS Publications in 1999. As a journalist, she mainly reported on fashion weeks in Paris, Milan, New York and Tokyo. She served as editor-in-chief of WWDJAPAN, a fashion and beauty trade journal. She has been in her current post since April 2021.

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  Media

  Founder and editor-in-chief of Standart

  Michal Molcan

  Michal Molcan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Standart, an independent print magazine about specialty coffee. With a dedicated readership spread across 83 countries, Standart is a Climate Neutral certified business. It was awarded 2021 Best Coffee Magazine and featured in Forbes, Eater and the New York Magazine.

• 

  Coffee

  Founder / CEO of Rockbern Coffee Group

  Peter Muchiri

  Peter is an economics graduate from the University of Nairobi​. He is also a trained accountant from Strathmore University. His love and passion for coffee can only be traced to his childhood, whereas he grew up in a coffee growing family. A book fiend and an ardent disciple to the Bushido creed. He loves simplicity and mobility. A proud dad and a loving husband.

• 

  Coffee

  Java Frinsa Estate

  Fikri Raihan Hakim

  Based in Indonesia. Graduated from IPB University with a degree in Mechanical and Biosystem Engineering. A grandson of a farmer and a son of a farmer, Fikri aspired to be a farmer himself since his childhood. He started growing coffee at the family farm Java Frinsa Estate in 2011 and processing coffee in 2014 (first harvest). In 2016, he began coffee exporting, and the year after, started coffee cupping training. His expertise is focused on cultivation and management of Arabica coffee plantations and Arabica coffee processing.

• 

  Coffee

  Founder & Director of Primavera Coffee

  Nadine Rasch

  Born and raised in Guatemala, Nadine spent much of her childhood on her family’s coffee farm. After studying and working in finance in the UK, she started working in coffee in 2012. Realizing the potential in the specialty coffee market, she returned to Guatemala to work on her family’s farm with coffees from other producers. In 2013, she founded Third Wave Coffee Source Ltd., now Primavera Coffee, to connect the best coffees from Guatemala to roasters in Europe and North America. Nadine is a Certified Q Grader and Q Processor.

• 

  Coffee

  Co-founder of TYPICA

  Ayane Yamada

  Yamada is a co-founder of TYPICA. She is in charge of communication with coffee producers and quality control. After falling in love with coffee when she was a university student, she aspired to work closely with coffee origins. She co-founded TYPICA after accumulating experience as a roaster and working at a coffee start-up.