October is National Coffee Month. What is our national coffee anyway?

Is it the famous Barako or Liberica which people think is all coffee from Batangas? It is not from Batangas alone but is now grown in Cavite, Bataan, even in Sultan Kudarat, I am sure.

Is our national coffee anything brewed and not instant? Do we even grow enough coffee for instant coffee manufacturers, when we import a lot of coffee from Vietnam and Indonesia?

Is our national coffee the best coffee you have taken? Where was your last cup from? Was it grown locally or did it come from Brazil, which is so faraway but still produces the biggest volume of coffee globally?

Maybe our national coffee is your favorite cup sourced from the Cordillera or Mount Apo. Whatever and wherever is the source or provenance, we are just so glad Philippine coffee now has legions of fans and patrons, unlike 20 years ago when what we had to do was to first make people aware that we grow coffee in the Philippines. We have come a long way! Today, we even pay higher prices for local coffee than imported ones. For added information, if coffee paid the right duties, Ethiopia and Brazil should be paying 40 percent import duties. But alas, even coffee is smuggled, to the detriment of the Filipino coffee farmers. Know where your coffee comes from, please!

In 2002 when we set up the National Coffee Development Board (NCDB) which became Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (www.philcoffeeboard.com), all we wanted was to make people aware we can grow more coffee as we were producing a dismal 25,000 metric tons to our growing consumption of 100,000 MT back then. Today, production has risen a bit as we battle conversion of coffee lands into industrial zones (e.g., Cavite and Batangas), and we have kept it at an even keel of 30,000-35,000 MT for the last 10 years. But work is needed to plant more trees. As we consume more coffee, many are also cut down for development and not replaced fast enough to even the demand and supply.

Our soft target is to plant a million trees in the next three years and a million trees every year thereafter. It takes nine months for sown seeds to sprout and another nine to see it growing.

This is why in October it will be a good showcase at the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to serve our coffee, if only to remind our ministers that we need to plant more coffee to avert disasters from floods caused by deforestation. It is truly related to Disaster Risk Reduction when we talk about planting trees, specifically coffee. How apropos that we are asked to serve Philippine coffee to all 4,000 delegates to the conference.

We thank the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for thinking of allocating some public lands for coffee planting. DENR Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga has announced 1.2 million hectares being mapped for coffee planting and we hope this happens soon before more disasters strike, eroding our mountains and causing the deluge or floods in the lower areas.

Another milestone for coffee month is our project with GCash/GForest where more than 200,000 trees have already been committed to be planted by the Philippine Coffee Board for ordinary app users like yourselves. Already we have planted many of these coffee and shade trees which we can locate by GPS, as farmers get subsidies to plant more in areas from Benguet to Sulu.

Basilan’s Isabela City has committed to plant over 50,000 trees and may increase this as they convert rubber farms to coffee plantations among shade trees. KAPESABELA is a project we started with Mayor Djalia “Dadah” Turabin Hataman last 2022 and we will see more coffee coming from Basilan soon.

Sulu’s People’s Alliance for Progress cooperative headed by Princess Kumala Sug-Elardo will also be planting 50,000 trees as Sulu’s Robusta has been rated as “fine robusta” by coffee experts from around the world.

In Iloilo, many towns are now waking up to coffee and planting more of the crop as farmgate prices have risen, commensurate to farmers’ efforts. This has made Iloilo one of the more progressive areas in coffee production. Through initiatives like Kape Iloilo, farmers now take pride in labelling the provenance of their coffees like Leon, Igbaras and Janiuay –places we never used to hear about.

The Philippine Coconut Authority in Region IV-A (Calabarzon) has ordered the planting of coffee as intercrop with coconut in all coconut areas totaling about a million hectares. That is surely a big addition to our target to plant two million trees.

So today, as we start to celebrate Coffee Month, we have to celebrate the great strides we have made in increasing awareness about Philippine coffee. And increasing interest in planting more trees to satisfy our increasing demand for the brew. Despite challenges like climate change, rising land prices and lack of agricultural workers, we will carry on with innovative ideas like intercropping with coconut, using coffee to reforest our denuded forests and overall make a move to choose coffee instead of the usual species like mahogany or gmelina. Coffee trees encourage biodiversity as well as provide fruits that will then become our coffee brew. Won’t you agree to plant more of it?

Just as we have our national flower, animal, and tree, we should have a national coffee. And that is all good coffee – Robusta, Excelsa, Arabica and Liberica – that comes from all over the country. Even if there are detractors who have a thousand reasons to say Philippine coffee is inconsistent, dirty, not uniform, we carry on with teaching and training producers to produce better coffee. While others snootily drink their cup from Brazil or Ethiopia, we do our best to address the challenges of Philippine coffee production.

Next time you order coffee at a café, ask them where it came from. Hopefully, they will proudly say it comes from the Philippines.

Organizer:

Can your team make 20 coffees in 15 minutes?

How about 15 coffees in 10 minutes?

The ASEAN Barista Team Championship (ABTC) is all about speed, accuracy, and craftsmanship!

It is designed to show the pressure of what happens behind espresso bars worldwide. Within a limited time, baristas must work as a team to deliver three things that matter to coffee customers: fast service and excellent presentation while maintaining quality and accuracy. It’s an energetic display of talent!

Each team will serve the required drinks from the Beverage Menu Cards with as much art and taste quality as possible in the allotted time. The Beverage Menu Cards include take-out and dine-in scenarios across all categories.

The Competition Format

• 4 Baristas per team

• Competition comprises Elimination Round, Quarter-Semi Final, Semi Final and Final Round. Only Elimination rounds have 2 matches. (Depends how many participants)

• Each team is to serve the required drinks from the Beverage Menu cards with as much art and taste quality as possible in the allotted time.

• The Beverage Menu cards will include Take-away and Dine-in scenarios across the categories.

1.  Two teams on stage to compete against each other simultaneously. Baristas may organize themselves to do any tasks they see fit.

2.  Upon the start of the timer, one team member from each team collects the first Beverage Menu card from the judging table. Both teams receive the same cards in the same order.

Eg:

3. Upon receiving the first Beverage Menu, drinks must be served to the judging table and placed on the corresponding squares as per indicated on the Beverage Menu card. The second Beverage Menu card can only be collected upon completion of the first card. Only the cups served to the judges’ table will be assessed by the judges

• Each team is to serve the assigned drinks from the Beverage Menu cards with as much creative art and quality taste as possible in the allotted time.

• Beverage Menu cards will include beverages in Dine-in and Take-away cups in various categories such as Long Black, Caffe Latte, Cappuccino, Piccolo Latte, Pour Over Coffee etc.

• Judges will award 1 poker chip (equivalent to 1 point) to their preferred cup for each order from the 2 teams.

• The fastest team to complete all orders for the round will earn additional 2 points.

• Additional 3 points will be awarded to the team with the most number of chips.

• The scoring will be based on seeding system
• For the qualifying rounds a draw between the same number of seeded and unseeded team determines the pairings

Quarter Final Rounds – Scoring per match:  

15 beverage orders: 15 points

First finisher: +2 points

Winning team: +3 points

Top 4 will proceed to Final Round

ATTENTION :

Signature Beverage

1st Match – Hot Signature Beverage

Final – Scoring:

20 beverage orders: 20 points

First finisher: +2 points

Winning team: +3 points

ATTENTION :

Signature Beverage Cold / Hot Signature Beverage to be disclosed during the competition         

*In the event of a tie, the total score or total time taken in the competition will be taken into consideration

How does the seeding system work in the Elimination Round?

Example:

RULES & REGULATIONS

1. The competition space will consist of 2 stations.
2. Teams will draw lots to determine their allocation of stations.
3. Organizers will draw lots only at the first Elimination round to determine the matching team.
4. Teams may organize their team members to do any tasks they see fit.
5. All competitions will be run with 1 head judge and 2 sensory judges.
6. All servings must follow based on the order from the Beverage Menu Card.
7. In Elimination rounds, competitors are required to serve 15 beverages to the judges during a period of 10 minutes.
8. In Finals, competitors are required to serve 20 beverages to the judges during a period of 15 minutes.
9. The best signature drinks will be awarded with 2 additional points in Quarter, Semi & Finals. Each team will be given 5 minutes preparation time before competition starts and 5 minutes clean-up time after competition ends. (TBA) depends on sponsors.
10. First Beverage Menu Card order must be completed before proceeding to prepare the second Beverage Menu Card order, otherwise they will be disqualified.
11. Competitors are not allowed to move the cups once beverages are served on the Judges’ table.
12. Judges will not assess the particular beverage should the competitors fail to comply with the rule. Judges will begin evaluating their drink as soon as it is served.
13. All drinks must be prepared using the official products such as coffee, milk, syrup, machine, cups and etc
14.  All official products will be provided for the competitors during the competitions.

Nothing other than ground coffee and water may be placed in the portafilters

15.  A team may raise their hand and declare a “technical time out” in the event that they believe there is a technical problem with any of the following ABTC-provided equipment.
16. If the technical problem cannot be solved in a timely manner, the organizer will make the decision whether or not the team should wait to continue their performance or stop the performance and start again at a reallocated time.
17. If it is determined that the technical issue is due to competitor error, the Head Judge may determine that no additional time will be given to the competitor, and the preparation or competition time will resume without time being credited. No time credit will be issued for technical issues caused by improper use; therefore, it is the responsibility of all competitors to understand and follow the correct use of all competition equipment.

SIGNATURE BEVERAGES

1. For cold beverages, Participants will provide regular ice cubes for competitors.
2. All signature beverages must contain coffee
3. Any ingredients may be used in the signature beverage preparation except alcohol, alcohol extracts or byproducts, or controlled or illegal substances. If these substances are found in the beverage, the respective team will be disqualified from the competition.

COMPETITION GUIDELINES:

1. Washing stations will be provided. Competitors are responsible for keeping track of and cleaning their own dishes
2. Runners and event staff are not responsible for breakage or loss of dishes or competitor items.
3. The competition will provide two-group espresso machines and grinders
4. Competitors should report to the competition in time. Organizers will not make up time for competitors for any late arrival.
5. Time keeper will be provided by the Organiser After each set of drinks has been served to and evaluated by the judges, a runner will clear the drinks from the judges’ presentation table at the direction of the Head Judge.
6. Judges’ decisions are deemed final.
7. Competitors are complied with the Organizer and Sponsors use of teams’ names and images for promotion/ marketing purposes without charge.
8. If the competitor has forgotten any of their equipment and/ or accessories during their preparation time, the competitor may exit the stage to retrieve the missing items; however, their preparation time will not be paused.
9. Once the teams have completed their performance, they should begin cleaning up the station. Competitors are expected to remove all their personal equipment and supplies and thoroughly wipe down their station.

SCORING EVALUATION:

1. In the Elimination Round, the team’s total score will be tallied by adding the sum of the poker chips accumulated during the competition time. The top 4 teams will proceed to the Final Round.

2. Both milk and coffees are not allowed to be pre-dosed before the start of the competition. Espressos will be evaluated based on the appearance of the crema, the taste experience of the espresso (sweetness, acidity, and bitterness) to determine their quality.
3.  Milk beverages will be evaluated based on the appearance of the milk beverage (ie. the milk beverage should have a color combination of milk and coffee, with good color contrast definition, balance in the cup, and a smooth, and possibly glossy/glass like sheen.
4. The texture and temperature of the beverage, and the taste of the coffee and milk will be included in the evaluation.
5. Judges will evaluate the signature beverage on how well the taste components of the espresso and other ingredients fit together and complement each other in the total experience of the signature beverage.
6. Beverage ingredients for cold signature beverages can be prepared prior to the competition, however, the espressos used must be prepared during the competition time.

Click here for the latest info.

 February 2024

March 2024
Click here for the latest info.

SIGEP is the unmissable event to discover the latest news, innovations, and trends in the Dolce Foodservice sector: raw materials and ingredients, machinery and equipment, as well as furnishings, packaging, and services.

It is a unique meeting place to have a dialogue with companies and professionals, to discuss industry scenarios, and an opportunity for doing business, networking, professional updating, and sharing.

Click this SIGEP 2024 link to request your complimentary ticket.

Facts & Figures 2023

• 178,527 Total Attendance
• 1,000 Exhibitors
• 155 Countries

Why visit

• GLOBAL NETWORKING
  Make contact with companies and operators from all over the world, creating new connections and sharing experiences with professionals and associations in the Out of Home industry.
• INSPIRATION
  Expand your horizons, explore new developments, and be the first to discover new products, cutting-edge equipment, and revolutionary techniques.
• EVENTS
  Take part in a packed programme of talks, demos and show cooking with highly innovative and artistic content, and make contact with leading experts and renowned master craftsmen in the sector.
• TRAINING
  Expand your knowledge and skills and keep abreast of the very latest industry news, keeping a close eye on the increasingly topical issues of sustainability, marketing, and digital innovation.

Let’s imagine this is a lightning round and you have 30 seconds to write down any sort of coffee terms you know. Common answers would most likely include, but not limited to: Arabica.  Robusta. French roast. Coffee Mate. Italian Roast. Starbucks. Guatemala. Java. Kona Blend. Pumpkin Spice Latte.  

If you were born and raised around Little Saigon or the San Gabriel Valley, maybe a little Cafe Sua Da (Vietnamese Iced Coffee). If you grew up in the 80s and 90s like I did, you definitely remember Juan Valdez walking in a Colombian jungle with his burro promoting Colombian coffee.

Time’s up. Did anyone have the Philippines or Liberica on their lists?

If you did, you can skip ahead to the next paragraph.  If not, that’s where Ronald Dizon comes in.

Ronald Dizon sorting through coffee. Photo by Sean Vukan for L.A. TACO.

Dizon, 40, is the owner and proprietor of Teofilo Coffee in Los Alamitos. His goal: To put Filipino coffee into as many cups as possible. To this writer’s knowledge, Teofilo is L.A. and O.C.’s only Filipino and Filipino-owned coffee house that emphasizes importing coffee beans direct from the Philippines to make the coffee at Teofilo.

The Philippines is one of the few regions within the coffee belt–the region within the tropics—-that can grow the four different coffee beans. Globally, the most popular is the Arabica bean, but that’s mostly because most countries only grow Arabica. One of the main focuses here is the Liberica bean or kapeng barako in Tagalog, and according to Dizon, it finishes with a smoother, less bitter taste.

“Now I can drink black coffee,” recalls an uncle of Dizon’s telling him upon tasting a freshly brewed cup of Teofilo coffee.

This statement is stated on a mural as soon as you walk into the shop, almost as a mission statement. There are no frappuccinos, pumpkin spice lattes, or any other sugary or creamy drinks at Teofilo.

The focus is on the coffee.

“We want people to taste our coffee for what it is.  If they don’t like it, tell us,” says Dizon.

Green barako beans. Photo by Sean Vukan for L.A. TACO.

Using his years of experience as an engineer in the automotive industry, Dizon keeps track of each roast that goes through his six-foot-tall roaster. This helps him know which beans went into each roast, how hot the temperature of each roast was, and any particular blends that he has. If something is off, he’s always trying to get better.

“We want the feedback. Tell us what you really think of the coffee,” explains Dizon.

However, Dizon wants to do more than import coffee from the Philippines for his own benefit.  Working with the Philippine Coffee Board (PCB), Dizon wants to put coffee grown in the Philippines into as many coffee shops throughout the United States as he can. There’s even a sign inside the shop encouraging people to donate to the PCB to ensure that this becomes a possibility.

Why? To help give Filipino coffee the notoriety that it once held.

According to the Philippine Coffee Board’s website, up until the late 19th century, the Philippines used to be a top exporter and grower of coffee throughout the country. An insect infestation prompted landowners to transition to growing sugar cane. Once a bout of coffee rust set in, the remaining coffee farmers abandoned the crop in favor of other agricultural endeavors.  Philippine coffee production and exportation are nowhere near where it once was. For Dizon, at times, patience and supply are the two biggest obstacles he faces in getting coffee beans to the United States.

“Naturally, The coffee board wants to take care of the Philippines first,” says Dizon.  “Then we’re able to get what’s left after that.”

A sign inside the shop encourages people to donate to the PCB. Photo by Sean Vukan for L.A. TACO.

However, four years ago, coffee was the furthest thing from Dizon’s mind. Dizon wasn’t thinking about coffee with a full-time job as an automotive engineer and a family. That was, until he sampled the coffee from his native Philippines. After that, he took it upon himself to bring Filipino coffee to SoCal and started Teofilo, a name honoring his grandfather. Starting at local farmer’s markets and lugging around his coffee roaster on a pallet, demand grew and grew for his blends and roasts, and a brick and mortar location finally opened in summer 2021.

Dizon spends his mornings hand sorting and sifting through bins of unsorted coffee beans. Trying to keep costs at a minimum, he buys his beans unsorted and, using a sifter that he made himself, filters out any imperfections in the various coffee beans that he receives. One might be an Excelsa batch.  Or a Barako. Either way, they all get hand-sorted.

“I got up at 4 in the morning to do this shit,” says Dizon.  “The behind the scenes stuff, people don’t see this. Not that I care. I do it for my people. That’s what I do it for so that they can see that it’s appreciated here and that they deserve it.”

Uplifting his Filipino culture is the main drive that Dizon is working towards. In addition to coffee, Dizon offers various Filipino food items such as a savory longanisa breakfast sandwich and offering to let Kym Estrada of San and Wolves Bakeshopuse his kitchen space to make her delicious vegan Filipinx baked goods (Vegan bibingka and macapuno cake? Yes, please) and a place to pick up her online items. For him, it’s all about giving his culture a chance to shine.

“I want this to be our time now,” says Dizon.

Dizon is grateful for the space he occupies but eventually wants to transition to an open concept that harkens back to his farmers market days.

“We would have a crowd that would gather around when we would roast at the farmers market,” recalls Dizon.  “I want that again eventually.”

Photo by Sean Vukan for L.A. TACO.

Right now, it’s all about the journey and keeping the focus on uplifting Filipino heritage. His staff is primarily Filipino; the younger, Gen Z crowd, and for many, this is the first chance they are finding out that Filipino coffee is even a thing. It’s also a chance to see firsthand the impact they get to share with older Filipinos, especially those who immigrated to the US and haven’t had the opportunity to reconnect with Filipino coffee since they left.

“I’m half-Filipino, I’m half white, and a first-generation. My dad was born in the Philippines, so it’s always been important to hang onto those roots even though our grandparents wanted us to become Americanized,” says Kae Hernandez, 20, an employee at Teofilo. “That’s a really hard thing to be a first-generation, so you are an American, but then you’re also desperately trying to grasp back at your own culture.”

That attempt at hanging onto her culture and connecting with other Filipinos in search of their culture and homeland was one of the driving forces that led her to work at Teofilo and one of the reasons why she continues to stay because their mission is so much bigger. For Dizon and Teofilo, the journey is never over because it’s about so much more than coffee. To them, this is about bridging generations of Filipinos to a place that many have left a long time ago.

“The older crowd comes in, and they know exactly what they want because they want what they want from home, Hernandez says as she recalls the happiness and memories that the coffee stirs up for her customers.

“‘I can’t get barako here.  I haven’t had barako in 30 years. This tastes just like home.’”

Teofilo Coffee Company

10525 Los Alamitos Blvd, Los Alamitos, CA 90720

(714) 715-7183

The coffee industry said it expects to benefit from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement, standing apart from the rest of the agriculture sector, which has raised the loudest objections against the trade deal.

The ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) already allows all Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) coffees to come in and out freely, Pacita U. Juan, vice-president of the non-profit ASEAN Coffee Federation, said.

“RCEP for coffee adds Japan, Korea, and China (to the mix),” she said in a Feb. 3 Zoom call.

AFTA was a stress test for the coffee industry, Ms. Juan added: “If it were to shake up the coffee industry, it should have shaken it up already.”

RCEP will help farmers if the Philippine coffee industry avoids commodification and works out a way to promote its beans as products with distinctive origins, according to Ariestelo A. Asilo, a social entrepreneur and co-founder of Varacco, Inc., a food and beverage company.

“This free trade agreement will benefit farmers — as long as we strengthen our geographical markers of coffee and rice,” he said, referring to geographical indications (GI) system. “In other countries they have chocolates, ours will be coffee.”

A GI is “an indication that identifies a product as originating in a territory, area, or location, and where a given quality, reputation, or other characteristics of the good are primarily related to its geographical origin and human factors,” according to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.

The opportunities lie in crop resilience research, Mr. Asilo told BusinessWorld. More can also be done to improve production and post-harvest facilities, he added.

In a February 3 phone call, he said the Philippines produces 60,000 metric tons (MT) of coffee a year, yet demand for the product is 160,000 MT.

Revenue generated by the Philippine coffee industry is projected at $6.70 billion in 2023, according to Statista.

The average volume per person for 2023 is expected to amount to 1.36 kilograms.

Mr. Asilo cited the potential of liberica — known in the Philippines as barako coffee — which is one of the major commercially grown varieties apart from excelsa, robusta, and arabica.

“We have really good coffee. Our (flavor) profile is really good, and we are also one of the few countries that grow all four coffee bean types,” he said.

Opportunities also lie in specialization, Ms. Juan said.

The Philippine Coffee Board, of which Ms. Juan is president and co-chair, has been teaching farmers to process robusta beans into specialty robusta.

“We call it fine robusta. It’s almost like arabica. If you produce 7,000 metric tons and make it fine robusta, you can double the price without doubling production,” she said.

“We try to make small-production specialty coffee, meaning if we produce only 30,000 metric tons, then it might as well be well-priced, (not treated like a) commodity,” Ms. Juan added.

RCEP can help in this department, she said. South Korea, for one, tends to buy low-volume but high-value coffee.

“We’ve managed to create a specialty coffee image for the country. RCEP will allow us to export this to high-end buyers such as Korea and Japan,” Ms. Juan said.

Ms. Juan acknowledged that the rest of the farm industry is in a different situation in the RCEP debate.

“Coffee is a different product. We’re blessed that we’re not as perishable as onions and pechay (bok choy),” she said, “but for the ordinary farmer, (it will really be a deluge) of vegetable imports.”

Photo by Freepik

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages globally, sought for its aroma and caffeine content. It is the most widely traded tropical product, and a growing market due to increasing consumption and stronger interest in specialty coffee innovations, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

To cap off their celebration of Coffee Month, The Philippine Coffee Board, Inc., in cooperation with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance Philippines, conducted a webinar entitled “Coffee Farming: We Believe, a testimonial from real coffee farmers who are making change” last October 29, 2022. The speakers in the webinar were all women, and Pacita “Chit” Juan, President and Co-Chair of Philippine Board, Inc. shared, “I don’t know if it’s by conscious choice or just the trend in the Philippines, but when we were getting farmers in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the names that came up were all women.”

In the thick forests of Mankayan, Benguet, Noemi Dado made use of her great-grandmother’s land to establish Agnep Heritage Farm and grow coffee in 2018. She shared her advocacy of sustainable coffee farming, which her family has thoroughly applied on their farm by growing coffee without cutting trees, producing their own organic fertilizers, and collaborating with indigenous farmers in the area. After four years, in 2020, they successfully harvested their first batch of arabica coffee beans.

Juliet Morales, a coffee farmer from Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, shared that she started trading coffee in the 1980s, but stopped in 2002 because of low coffee prices. However, in 2015, she realized that she needed to go back to coffee farming and established Bumolo’s Integrated Farm, planting catimor, arabica, and robusta coffee varieties. She shared that she successfully expanded her farm and now has an association of 128 farmers. At the present, the farming cooperative now covers all stages of coffee production, from nursery to post-harvest processing, and even a coffee shop.

In Iloilo, Bibay Bionat, another coffee farmer, shared that her late father was originally into sugar cane farming, but shifted to coffee in 2012 in preparation for the possibility of sugar cane prices going down. They developed their robusta coffee farm, La Granja Cerza Roja, in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo. She shared that women farmers on their farm are the ones usually tasked with sorting beans because their attention to detail makes them better at doing the job. In a bid to have a more sustainable water source and additional income, her family built a rain catchment facility, where they also cultivate tilapia.

Another coffee farmer, Jocelyn Mamar, shared that she was originally a vendor in a public market before venturing into the coffee business. After selling in a public market for 17 years, Mamar shared that she eventually got interested in planting vegetables and fruits and started off by buying small lots, some of which already had coffee planted on them. Even if she didn’t have a background in coffee farming, her determination to learn through training and seminars, paved the way for her successful John and Marga Nursery Farm, which currently has farms in Luzon (Cavite), Visayas (Bacolod), and Mindanao (Davao del Sur). Though she has a variety of fruits and vegetables, coffee remains her main crop, specifically robusta and liberica.

Maria Teofannie Tutanes, a coffee farmer in Sultan Kudarat, shared that coffee farming was her family’s livelihood ever since she was born and through it, she and her three siblings were able to finish school. “Coffee is profitable,” she emphasized, just find the right skills related to coffee production, processing, and marketing. Currently, she is the owner of PMTZ Care Marketing and producer of Mnemo Coffee, a popular household coffee brand in Mindanao. In her talk, she also advocated for proper financial management to help coffee farmers and traders to prioritize their spending and save money.

“First, you could start with a small property, or you could have a big property, that doesn’t really matter too much, as long as you can grow coffee. You can grow a lot of varieties, and of course in different elevations, just match the soil and elevation with the variety, that’s possible. And the Philippines, by the way, grows all the major varieties, so that’s not the problem. The third is that[,] it’s never too late to get into coffee…..and there is a network of people willing to train you, to teach you, [and] to share their experiences as we’ve seen here people have learned from each other,” shared Guillermo “Bill” Luz, Trustee in the Philippine Coffee Board, Inc., and co-moderator of the webinar, in his concluding takeaway from the discussions.

Last Oct. 26, 2022, we celebrated two events: the third AgriMovers honors and Agriculture Magazine’s 25th anniversary.

Agriculture Magazine has been inspiring and informing Filipinos about the importance of agriculture and how, with proper planning and strategic sales and marketing, it can be a viable business, since its first issue hit newsstands in 1997.

It is now the longest running and most widely read magazine of its kind in the country, and its website ranks in the Top 10 in its category.

AgriMovers is Agriculture Magazine’s way of honoring individuals and organizations who have made a significant positive impact on the Philippine agriculture industry.

This year’s celebration was extra special as the honorees were expanded from two to five, including a new youth category where universities, organizations, and individuals were asked to nominate a youth practitioner who they thought embodied the future of Philippine agriculture.

2022’s honorees are:

For the business category, Francisco “Paco” Magsaysay of Real Fresh Dairy Farms, Inc., and Rex Puentespina of Malagos Agri-Ventures Corporation.

Real Fresh Dairy Farms, Inc. started in 2007 when Magsaysay’s father, former senator Ramon Magsaysay, Jr., realized that the Philippines imports 99.6 percent of its dairy. Upon his father’s request, Paco established Carmen’s Best Dairy Products to help increase the sales of the dairy farm. He diversified the dairy farm’s product line under the brand Holly’s Milk and Farm Fresh Dairy Produce, but it was with Carmen’s Best Ice Cream that he really made his mark.

Malagos Agri-Ventures Corporation farms cacao to make artisanal chocolate, raises goats to make artisanal cheeses, produces and sell cut flowers and cut foliage, and runs a nature-themed resort that includes the first chocolate museum in the country, all within Davao City.

Malagos Chocolate has won numerous local and international awards in various categories and is recognized as one of the brands that helped pave the way for Philippine cacao’s international recognition.

For the community category, Princess Kumalah Sug-Elardo of Sulu Royal Coffee and Bae Inatlawan of Inhanding Tribal Multi-purpose Cooperative.

Princess Kumalah Sug-Elardo organized The People’s Alliance for Progress Multi-Purpose Cooperative in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2010, producing fine coffee under the Sulu Royal Coffee brand.

The coop members’ lives have changed for the better. They have been able to send their children to school, put up houses, and now have a better water system. There is peace and order in the area, and government workers have set up health centers and the like.

Sulu Royal Coffee’s efforts to engage farmers in coffee farming has brought peace in the rural war-torn areas of Mindanao, with many former insurgents laying down their guns in exchange for farming.

Princess Lalah of Sulu Royal Coffee

The Inhandig Tribal Multipurpose Cooperative was organized in 1998 with chieftain Bae Inatlawan as one of its founders. The cooperative focused on coffee and abaca as these high-value crops were deemed friendly to the forest environment that the tribes lived in at the foot of Mt. Kitanglad.

In 2017, the cooperative took home the prize for the Arabica category in the Kape Pilipino Green Coffee Quality Competition, a nationwide cupping competition organized by the Philippine Coffee Board, Inc. ITMPC was one of two winners from Bukidnon, and would go on to represent the Philippines in the Global Specialty Coffee Expo in Seattle, Washington that same year.

The author with Princess Lalah

For the youth category, Dayang Iman Sahali and Alyssa Tan Sahali of Mangan by Iman, a Tawi-Tawi-based social enterprise that produces seaweed chips. The company partners with local seaweed farmers, buying their harvests at competitive prices. Most of the profit goes to the rebuilding of the Tongbangkaw Elementary School, where a lot of the kids of the seaweed farmers study.

The sisters are proud that their small enterprise has not only helped the local community, but also helped show Tawi-Tawi in a positive light. The Youth honorees were given a ₱30,000 grant to further their operations.

This year’s winners were decided on by an esteemed group of judges, all of them from the agriculture industry: National Scientist Dr. Emil Q. Javier, Southeast Asian Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) Senior Fellow Dr. William G. Padolina, and former AgriMovers honoree Raymund Aaron, Banana Chief of Villa Socorro Farm.

Former AgriMovers honoree Carlo Sumaoang of MNL Growkits and Ragsak Family Farm was also in attendance.

Also introduced was the Zac Sarian Lifetime Achievement Award, to be given to a personality whose lifelong efforts have vastly changed their area of agriculture for the better. In this way, Sarian’s legacy of highlighting exceptional farmers, fishers, and agribusiness owners continues to live on.

The honorees and judges expressed their appreciation at being recognized for their contributions to the agriculture industry. Sumaong told me that it was a wonderful reminder of why he went into agriculture.

All AgriMovers honorees are examples of individuals and organizations whose perseverance and success serve as inspiration to those who want or continue to thrive in the Philippine agriculture industry.

As the spotlight shines on these remarkable individuals and their profound impact on Philippine agriculture, it also underscores the ongoing need for talent and innovation within the industry. Recognizing the crucial role of human capital in agricultural advancement, efforts to attract and retain skilled professionals become increasingly vital.

For organizations seeking to navigate this landscape, specialized recruitment firms dedicated to ag jobs Australia offer a strategic avenue for sourcing top-tier talent. By connecting aspiring professionals with opportunities that align with their passion for agriculture, these firms play a pivotal role in nurturing the next generation of leaders and innovators in the field.

As the legacy of pioneers like Carlo Sumaoang and the recipients of the Zac Sarian Lifetime Achievement Award continues to inspire and motivate, the collaboration between industry leaders and recruitment specialists remains instrumental in shaping the future of agriculture in Australia and beyond.
Look forward to the next honorees in 2025!

Originally named Coffee Break, it is the brainchild of the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) led by founding trustee and current director Guillermo “Bill” Luz.

He explains the impetus behind this event, “The first objective was to build up some brand awareness about Philippine coffee. Our other objective was to nudge consumer behavior towards specifying ‘Philippine coffee’ as opposed to just ordering ‘coffee.’  The concept was simple: offer free coffee in the mall, add entertainers to regale the crowd, and raise awareness for Philippine coffee.”

In 2008, Coffee Break evolved into Coffee Origins, with greater emphasis on where the coffee beans come from. Luz elaborates, “We moved into ‘Origins’ to show that Philippine coffee was being grown in different parts and elevations of the country, and each region had their specialties.” He adds, “The more that origin is in demand, the better it is for the farmers in that community. Increased demand can mean more jobs, more income, for a community. And if the farmers process the beans properly to maintain their quality, that means higher values for the community.”

Our intention was to build up demand in Philippine coffee so more people would go into coffee production.

Indeed, Coffee Origins has succeeded in raising awareness about Philippine coffee and its origins for the past 15 years. Luz shares, “the concept of Origins is now being better appreciated. More coffee retailers and cafés now indicate where their coffee is grown (e.g., Kitanglad, Matutum, Cordillera, Apo, etc.).

To better appreciate the Coffee Origins, Philippine Coffee Board was also the trailblazer in farm tours in cooperation with its Philippine Coffee Network

Today PCBI works tirelessly to build the Philippine coffee brand. But it has moved to a more “Seed to Shelf” or “Farm to Table” approach according to Luz. We are closely working at how to create nurseries for seed and seedling production because that is the starting point of coffee. Moreover, as production increases, people will need to learn more about how to process and mill their beans so they can get the best flavor and value of their beans.”

Written by Anne Marie “Nana” Ozaeta
This article was first published in The Ultimate Coffee Guide, 2017

Selling coffee branded Philippine-made has become a marketing trend for cafes. It has become a way to appeal to coffee drinkers who want to drink sustainable coffee while supporting the local industry. But selling coffee with Philippine origins comes with a lot of responsibilities, according to Ros Juan, the chief coffee extractor of Commune Café and Bar.

Juan spoke in an online session of KainCon organized by the Philippine Coffee Board to discuss the following considerations for running a café with Philippine coffee.

Get to know your coffee

Café owners should be able to tell where their coffee comes from. There are times when coffee traders might not be fully knowledgeable about their products and could wrongly market their coffee as locally made when it is actually not.

It is better to connect with coffee farmers or organizations like the Philippine Coffee Board which works directly with coffee farmers.

If a café owner is starting out and wants to buy Philippine coffee in small quantities, they can contact the Philippine Coffee Board as they have a database of coffee farmers who will cater to the specific needs of café owners. But if a café owner is seeking to acquire large quantities of coffee, they should go ahead and work directly with coffee farmers.

The same applies to cafe owners who want to acquire roasted coffee instead of processing coffee beans on their own. Cafe owners should work with coffee roasters who source their coffee directly from farmers.

It takes a lot of research and sampling to verify if coffee is really made locally. At times, labels like Kalinga coffee or Sagada coffee are used arbitrarily when the coffee was not even grown in the locations the label pertains to. Thus it is important for cafe owners to get involved in the local coffee community to familiarize themselves with all the local coffee sources.

Part of this is also learning the difference between each coffee species. There are four species of coffee, mainly arabica, robusta, liberica, and excelsa. It is important for cafe owners to study all four coffee species and be able to taste their difference so that they will have an idea if they are getting the right kind of coffee from their sources.

The price and quality of coffee

Coffee is available at varying levels of quality. But whether coffee is of the highest or lowest quality, each quality level of coffee has its own market and corresponding price.

Specialty coffee is sold for high prices because they require a lot of labor to produce. In contrast, there are commercial-grade coffees that farmers are able to sell in large quantities because the standards for production are less stringent.

On the bottom are rejects, which can still be sold but at low prices for certain markets. Café owners are discouraged from using low-quality coffee in their cafés.

When starting a café, it is tempting to offer specialty coffee, but café owners need to consider that it is going to cost them more, and thus they would have to charge more for it. This might not work for certain cafés depending on their location and market. It is therefore crucial to study the surrounding market and see which coffee products best suit the business.

Price also sets the expectations of customers. If coffee is sold cheap, customers will not expect them to be of high quality. But as price increases, cafe owners will need to do more to deliver value for the price they charge with. This means investing in ambiance and customer service.

More importantly, cafe owners must be truthful about the ingredients they are using and price their products accordingly. If customers feel that they are being cheated, they will feel resentful of the café and will probably not return.