Most global coffee buyers have never cupped a Benguet Arabica. Philippine specialty coffee is still finding its footing at international trade shows, and for a small farm like ours, getting on those floors at all is something that matters.
In 2026, two roasters independently decided to bring Agnep coffee to the World of Coffee, the Specialty Coffee Association’s flagship trade event. In April, Boondocks Coffee Roasters featured our coffee at the World of Coffee in San Diego (April 10-12). Boondocks is an LA-based roastery founded by Emil Banta that sources exclusively from Philippine farms, and they listed our lot under my name, Noemi, as producer. A month later, AM Coffee & Roastery (@amespresso.mnl) featured our Balili Red at the World of Coffee Asia in Bangkok (May 7-9, BITEC, Booth G 209). AM Coffee & Roastery is a Philippine roastery that sources from both local and international farms because they believe Philippine coffee belongs in the same conversation as the best origins in the world.
Balili Red is a mixed-cultivar lot grown on our farm in Balili, Mankayan, Benguet at 1,620 meters above sea level, hand-picked by our team of seasonal local workers and processed on-site using a mosto washed, dry ferment method.
I wasn’t at either event. But our coffee was, and our farm’s name was on the table at two of the biggest specialty coffee trade shows in the world, on two continents, within five weeks. That’s what we’re working toward: an introduction of Agnep on the global stage, representing Benguet, representing Philippine coffee. We started with 1,200 seedlings in 2018. The coffee is doing the traveling now.