BCAA owner Cherry Cruz translates that awareness to coffee quality with the vision “to be Asia’s lead for proper coffee education, by creating an awareness of specialty coffee’s potential for sustainable regional development in the fields of agriculture, entrepreneurship, roasting and cupping, and coffee preparation.”

BCAA is the only Coffee Education Center in the country to host two Specialty Coffee Association (SCA)-approved laboratories in Manila and Davao. Both laboratories went through stringent measures to be approved by the SCA body and the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), both based in the USA. With this, BCAA has become the go-to venue for all Q and R Grading classes in the country.

Cruz further added, “BCAA is now spearheading Coffee Science research projects with private universities for future reference on Philippine coffee education.” These led to ACDI/VOCA and USDA sponsored projects, in partnership with PCBI, to provide continuing coffee quality education for the Philippines.

BCAA was the first to offer Q grading classes in the country.

Anj Ferreria-Tan, Managing Partner of BCAA, enumerates BCAA coffee breakthroughs. “BCAA brings coffee education to the international level with coffee study tours. The most recent one was in Seoul, South Korea where students were brought to Korean cafes for cupping lessons with SCA instructor Paul Kim. The Korean culture is an example of how culture dictates coffee drinking lifestyle,” she pointed out. In fact, the first batch of BCAA delegates represented the school for the ASEAN Coffee Federation barista training on May 2017.

BCAA is the first to run the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Barista Pathways level 1 and 2, under the instructions of Jingbo Dengin November 2015 and March 2016

The future of coffee in the Philippines never smelled this good and exciting. BCAA is set to unveil the new Coffee Skills Program of SCA in April 2018. The new program focuses on green coffee, roasting, and sensory modules. Meanwhile, the fourth Coffee Science Series with Dr. Manuel Diaz focuses on cold coffee brewing, with coffee blending and roasting in May 2018.

BCAA has paved the way for quality coffee and coffee education in the country consistent with how the school wants “to help Filipinos progress in this field and boost the coffee culture and industry in the Philippines.”

(article by Ann Kuy / photos by BCAA)