InterSICOP 2024 Spotlight: Ester Roelas vindicates the tea paste

Ester Roelas has been in contact with gastronomy since she was very young. She grew up helping in her aunt and uncle's bakery in Coll de Nargó (Lleida) and at the age of 16 she began studying catering at the prestigious Hofmann school in Barcelona. After 10 years working as a cook, she returned to Hofmann to study patisserie. Subsequently, she taught courses in different centres.

In 2019 she joined Eric Ortuño's L'Atelier Barcelona team as head of the bakery and in 2020, when she was about to join Jordi Roca's Casa Cacao in Girona, the pandemic broke out and she decided to open her own online training classroom in Badalona (Barcelona), where she organises classroom training, prepares consultancies for companies and offers a wide variety of online courses and masterclasses. This chef has always loved learning and teaching. That is why this project is a unique opportunity to share knowledge and transmit respect for artisan patisserie and for good products, humility and a lot of passion for the trade.

At InterSICOP 2024, Ester Roelas will be giving a technical seminar in which she wants to vindicate the great potential of a classic product such as tea paste, which has a great commercial potential. Don't miss her presentation on Tuesday 20 February at 12 noon!

Interview with Ester Roelas, speaker at InterSICOP 2024

1.- You have been running a successful training centre in Badalona (Barcelona) for years. Is teaching your true vocation?

I started teaching online courses in 2012 while I was alternating other jobs, as at that time nobody was doing online courses and I didn't dare to dedicate myself exclusively to it. It was in 2020 when, due to the pandemic, I decided to open this bakery and school in Badalona. I have always loved teaching, in fact, I already had experience as a teacher in renowned schools such as Hofmann. I believe that quality training is essential to grow in the sector and also for future generations.

2.- At InterSICOP 2024 you will focus your presentation on tea biscuits, do you think it is important to highlight their potential and versatility?

Yes, I think it is important to promote and work with this product, as I believe it can boost the sales of our businesses. And what I intend to do with the presentation is to show how to promote or do different things with tea paste.

Obviously, I am not a pioneer in this field; those who have done a great job to promote and vindicate this product are the Dulcypas team with their Award for the Best Artisan Tea Pastry in Spain. I believe that actions like these help the sector to grow and to strive for an increasingly higher quality product.

3.- Why do you think this is one of the products that do not tend to stand out in shop windows? How can this situation be reversed?

I think we are still a bit stuck in the classics, which is not bad, I love the classics, but I think we need to start changing the formats and recipes a bit, making them more attractive to today's generation, and improve a bit how we present them in our showcases.

4.- Can you give us a preview of some of the tea paste ideas you will be presenting at InterSICOP?

At the InterSICOP Show I am going to show two of the tea biscuits I have been making lately: the sun and the moon. They are two biscuits with a different format, more suited to today's palate, dedicated to two of the trips I made last year. On the one hand, the sun of Mexico, which is inspired by an individual I created for some courses I taught in that country. And, on the other hand, the moon of the Middle Eastern countries: UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Travel has always inspired me when it comes to making pastry products.