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.

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!

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.

There are over a hundred species of coffee, but only four of them are commercially viable. These are Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, and Excelsa. Not all coffee-growing countries can cultivate all species but lucky for us, all four species are grown in the Philippines.

If you’re new to the world of coffee, the options can be overwhelming. Here’s a simple guide to help you distinguish each type and identify which one best fits your palate.

Arabica (coffea arabica)
60% of the world’s coffee is Arabica.

First discovered in Ethiopia, Arabica trees are small and thrive in the shade, at higher elevations where average temperatures are between 60 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Arabica is the most delicate of all four species. It’s prone to pests and diseases. Great care is needed, one of the reasons why it’s often pricier than other types of coffee.

Arabica has sweeter flavors and intricate aromas reminiscent of sugar, fruits, berries, and even flowers. Depending on the origin and varietal, hints of chocolate, nuts, citrus, and honey can also show up. It also tends to have higher acidity and lesser caffeine.

In the Philippines, Arabica is usually grown in Benguet, Sagada, Kalinga, Cotabato, and Davao.

Robusta (coffea canephora)
Originating from sub-Saharan Africa, Robusta makes up 30% of the total supply of coffee in the world.

True to its name, it’s robust. It’s easier to cultivate and is more disease-resistant. It doesn’t require steep slopes or high altitudes and is better at tolerating warmer climates. Robusta also bears fruit much quicker and produces a significantly higher yield per plant.

Robusta contains more caffeine than Arabica, and lesser sugar and lipid content. This results in a sharp, often bitter, and harsher taste. Because of this strong flavor, Robusta is mainly used in blends and instant coffees and is often seen as inferior to Arabica. But don’t dismiss it yet. Robusta has more antioxidants and lower acidity. With improvements in harvesting and processing, high-quality Robusta coffee is slowly becoming available.

Robusta thrives on lowlands like Cavite, Bulacan, and Mindoro. 

Liberica (coffea liberica)
Liberica is the world’s rarest type of coffee and is now cultivated mainly in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Liberica trees produce larger cherries and almond-shaped beans, often asymmetrical, and larger than Arabica and Robusta. It is the only beans species with an irregular shape.

Liberica has an exceptional floral and fruity aroma comparable to that of a jackfruit, with a full body that possesses a woody and slightly smoky, sometimes nutty, taste. Its flavor is more intense and earthy, especially when roasted dark. Thanks to its complex notes, Liberica is often added to blends to give the coffee a bolder flavor.

In the Philippines, Liberica is known as Kapeng Barako and grows primarily in Batangas and Cavite.

Excelsa (coffea excelsa)
Excelsa was discovered in Africa and accounts for 7% of the world’s coffee consumption.

In 2006, Excelsa was reclassified under Liberica because it grows on large 20-30 feet trees like Liberica at similar medium altitudes and produces similar almond-shaped beans.

Despite the similarities, the actual coffees produced are so different that most people still think of the two as separate species. Excelsa is still sold separately in the Philippines.

Excelsa has a full-bodied and strong flavor profile, often tart, fruity, but dark. Because of this intense flavor, and the limited supply, Excelsa is more popular as a blending variety to add complexity and depth to house blends, and is often used as an extender.

Excelsa commonly grows in the mountains of Batangas, Quezon, and Sorsogon, Bicol region.

Whether you have special preferences in taste, aroma, and acidity, or you don’t discriminate between these types of coffee, knowing the distinction gives you a better sense of what you’re drinking.

Photos from Unsplash

The journey started last year in Ifugao when PCBI consultant Robert Francisco and PEF program manager Bong Soto trekked to Asipulo, Ifugao to announce the rules.

It was important to announce the contest way before harvest time so coffee farmers could pick the best fruits, process them well, then prepare them for cupping. This was in November 2018.

Last March, farmers sent their coffee samples to PCBI and these were cupped and graded by PCBI/CQI-trained Q graders Mario Macalalad, Bea Belardo, and Jen Rimando under Robert Francisco’s management. PCBI received 21 samples and out of these, 17 made the grade.

Making the grade means scoring over 80 points.

The awarding ceremonies will be held this April, in time with the festivities in the town of Asipulo.

PEF has generously prepared cash prizes and tokens to entice the farmers to continue the practice for the coming harvest season. This will make Ifugao coffee known as a specialty grade and could fetch higher prices for the farmers’ efforts.

Women are natural peacemakers.

In the case of Sulu Royal Coffee, the peacemaking is literal.

Princess Kumala “Lalah” Shug Elardo, of the Royal House of the Sultanate of Sulu, was born in Panamao, a remote, high conflict area in Sulu. She grew up in Zamboanga, but found herself back in the village where she was born in 2007 when she had to accompany her daughter who worked as the municipal medical officer in the area. “She volunteered to go there because no doctors would like to go there,” Princess Lalah says. “I was challenged because even I have not been there for so long.”

During her stay, Princess Lalah, a former social worker, noticed that a lot of the people were jobless. “I saw the women carrying pails of water, the men are carrying guns,” she recounts. “I thought of doing something. There must be something better.”

Coffee production caught her attention because she would see people laying down coffee beans on the dirt road so that they could intentionally be run over by vehicles. “Sinasadya nila para madepulp. Wala silang machines, parang wala talaga silang knowhow on coffee. (Doon) ko naisip ang kape.”

It all started with water
The first project that brought the community together was the construction of a system that would bring water to the village from a mountain source four kilometers away. “(Since) it’s going down,maybe we can do it through gravity, because I have seen some places in Luzon na may ganun.”

Not everyone was on board at first. “Sabi nila nobody would come, because this is a conflict area. I told (them) wala nga pupunta dito kung wala pupuntahan. We should do something.”

They estimated that the project would be done in 90 days. They finished in 21. “Kasi nung nakita na ng iba na may chance na yung tubig, everybody participated,” Princess Lalah shares. “Narealize nila ‘yung group efforts can really produce results.”

Picking the best beans
Princess Lalah tried to harness this newfound spirit of unity. “Nakikita ko naman ‘yung coffee, nandoon lang, mga tao, nandiyan, walang ginagawa, sabi ko siguro mas maganda kung nasa coffee na lang tayo.”

It took some time to convince the locals to try their luck with coffee because of the negative experiences associated with its production. Coffee can only be harvested once a year, and because of bad production practices, was sold for cheap. Princess Lalah was determined to change this. “Sabi ko, ‘subukan nating gawing mahal,” she says.

She began attending seminars on coffee production, meeting the members of the Philippine Coffee Board, of which she is now a director, along the way. “Ang concept ko talaga noon, baguhin ang quality. Ang business, wala pa akong alam. Hindi ko pa alam kung papaano ko siya i-trade o ano, basta ayusin ang quality para maibenta ng mataas at mag-inom tayo ng magandang kape.”

One of their first products was civet coffee, or coffee beans processed through the digestive tract of the civet cat that is harvested
in its droppings. Princess Lalah shares that since civet coffee wasn’t drunk in the area, she received her first batch free. She sold it in Manila and returned the money to the farmers. “Sabi nila, ‘galing yan sa kape?’ Yung isa, ayaw talaga maniwala. It was the beginning. Sabi niya, meron palang pera sa kape.”

A woman’s touch
Slowly, the community began to refine their processes. Princess Lalah credits this to the work of the local women. “Ang women kasi, mabusisi at sa tingin ko rin, mas madali silang maniwala, lalo na kung babae ang (mag-explain) sa kanila,” Princess Lalah says. “Meticulous ang mga babae, nakikita nila ang hindi dapat, madali sila magfollow.”

She explained that she fully earned the trust of the community after she set up a daycare program for the local children. “Unti-unti, napansin ko na paisa-isa lumalapit yung mga asawa nila kasi sabi ko taga rito ako, although yung asawa ko military, syempre ang puso ko, nandito pa rin. But kung ako ang tataanungin, ayaw ko ng may away, ayaw ko ng may gulo kasi both sides, nasasaktan din ako,” she says. “Nagumpisa kami noong naniniwala na sila.”

This was in 2008. They didn’t start earning until the next year, and profits have been growing since.

Better lives through coffee
The People’s Alliance for Progress Multi-Purpose Cooperative (PAPMPC) was set up in 2010, producing fine coffee under the Sulu Royal Coffee brand. The coffee is planted on 124 hectares of Agrarian Reform land, with room for expansion.

Each partner farmer started earning an average of P15,000 annually in 2009, which has risen to about P200,000 in 2018. Green beans are sold at P300-P350 a kilo while roasted ones fetch Php500-700 a kilo.

The cooperative currently has 374 members and has inspired 11 sister cooperatives, for a total of 2200 farmers. None of the members have ever had to take out a loan.

In between coffee harvest seasons, the farmers supplemented their income by intercropping with plants like ginger, turmeric, kamote, gabi, ube, bananas, and various vegetables. They are also currently exploring other agri-products with assistance from the Department of Agriculture, STI, and DOST.

The farmers’ lives have changed for the better. They have been able to send their children to school (In a speech Princess Lalah said that by 2016, 28 students have graduated from college, 230 from high school, and 350 from elementary).

They have been able to 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.

Other people have started their own businesses. A lot of former insurgents have laid down their guns in exchange for farming. “Kasi nasubukan nila to live with their families, with their children and their wives. Masarap daw ganun,” Princess Lalah says. “I told them, don’t just look at coffee as coffee. Look at it as money. It’s the money that you plant, not just coffee because this coffee will give you money forever, even though it’s only (harvested) once a year. That training in the hills will not give you anything.”

The little coop that could
The PAPMPC continues to grow its distribution network. Last year, they penned and agreement with Universal Robina Corporation (URC) with the help of GoNegosyo. An investor has offered to inject a sizable sum into their operations which will allow them to buy new machines and upgrade their facilities.

The coop also recently purchased property where they plan to set up a training center for other people in the province, since a lot of groups have been wanting to replicate the coop’s model. “I think Philippine coffee has a good future,” Princess Lalah said. “Ang kailangan lang dito ay pagandahin ang mga magkakape, bigyan ng tamag attention ang mga coffee farming and farmers. We have good coffee in the Philippines.”

With coffee gaining such prestige all over the world even as demand continues to outpace supply, there is potentially a lot of money to be made, especially if the beans are farmed and processed with care. “I think sa coffee, nadiyan ang market because the demand is so high and the supply is so low,” Princess Lalah says. Makikita mo naman sa coffee shop. Kailangan ng kape sa Pilipinas. You don’t have to look for the market. It’s the market that will look for coffee.”

The municipality of Amadeo in Cavite is out to reestablish itself as the undisputed coffee capital of the Philippines.

As part of this drive to restore its reputation as the country’s top coffee producer, Amadeo is reviving the annual Pahimis Festival, a celebration of the bean, from which what is arguably the world’s number one beverage comes.

This year’s Pahimis Festival will be held on Feb 22-24.

The town is also counting on the support of the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) in reclaiming its position.

The PCBI inaugurated recently a field office that would be the information center for coffee and a venue for seminars and training activities.

It hosted late last month its first seminar, introduction to coffee farming, by Dr. Alejandro Mojica, PCBI director and former head of the National Coffee Research Institute at Cavite State University.

Following the inauguration of the PCIB field office, a symposium was held “to rally the troops,” so to speak, in preparation for the restaging of Pahimis. Both Mayor Conrado A. Viado and Vice Mayor Leo Angelo B. Bayot, as well as members of the municipal board and other local officials, attended the event.

Coffee experts and successful producers offered tips on how local farmers can have better quality trees and increase their incomes to help bring back the glory of Cavite coffee.

Amadeo has 4,790 hectares of land planted to coffee, the largest land area devoted to coffee farming in the uplands of Cavite, making it the biggest coffee producer in the province and in the country.

The municipality of Amadeo in Cavite is out to reestablish itself as the undisputed coffee capital of the Philippines.

A dress made from jute sack is embellished with coffee beans.

As part of this drive to restore its reputation as the country’s top coffee producer, Amadeo is reviving the annual Pahimis Festival, a celebration of the bean, from which what is arguably the world’s number one beverage comes.

This year’s Pahimis Festival will be held on Feb 22-24.

The town is also counting on the support of the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) in reclaiming its position.

The PCBI inaugurated recently a field office that would be the information center for coffee and a venue for seminars and training activities.

It hosted late last month its first seminar, introduction to coffee farming, by Dr. Alejandro Mojica, PCBI director and former head of the National Coffee Research Institute at Cavite State University.

Following the inauguration of the PCIB field office, a symposium was held “to rally the troops,” so to speak, in preparation for the restaging of Pahimis. Both Mayor Conrado A. Viado and Vice Mayor Leo Angelo B. Bayot, as well as members of the municipal board and other local officials, attended the event.

Coffee experts and successful producers offered tips on how local farmers can have better quality trees and increase their incomes to help bring back the glory of Cavite coffee.

Amadeo has 4,790 hectares of land planted to coffee, the largest land area devoted to coffee farming in the uplands of Cavite, making it the biggest coffee producer in the province and in the country.

The coffee flower, which looks like a sampaguita, smells sweet and should be a welcome addition to any garden.

Pacita Juan, PCBI president and co-chair, said, “This festival is just one of three outcomes of a presidential order in 2002 to uplift the coffee industry.”

Usually held during coffee harvest time, the festival is in thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest.

During Pahimis, visitors can expect to see dancers wearing jute sacks and people wearing handmade hats and garlands—all adorned with coffee beans.

The order also led to the launch of the Adopt-a-Farm program, she said.

“Through this project, idle lands can be adopted by cityfolk who wish to experience weekend farming. The only requirement is to plant the land to coffee and other companion crops like peanuts, papaya and banana. The landowners, usually in their senior years, are compensated for use of their land. The project assured the landowner an income of P10,000 per year for five years while [it made] sure more coffee trees were planted. Around 140 hectares were adopted and [are contributing] to today’s coffee production,” Juan said.

Juan herself participated in the program, but now has a coffee farm managed by Marivic Sales.

The farm has become a demonstration site for good coffee propagation and is also producing seedlings for other coffee farmers, particularly those outside Cavite.

Another outcome of the order is Cafe Amadeo.

The brand was used by a local cooperative for its coffee packs and as the name of its coffee shop and “pasalubong” center, Juan said.

She added that, 16 years later, the co-op was running sustainably and was able to give its members a substantial patronage refund and free coffee when they dined at the cafe and brought friends with them.