Category: Learning about coffee

Ask most people how Filipinos resisted colonial rule and the story heads straight for the lowlands, for Rizal, for the Katipunan meeting in secret. The Cordillera was living out a quieter history the textbooks mostly skip, and a good part of it came down to a fight over one crop. That crop was coffee, and the closest anyone came to a weapon was a pot of boiling water. Continue reading “The roots of resistance: How these mountains refused Benguet Arabica, then chose It”

Here’s the simple truth: if it says “Benguet Arabica” on the bag, you should be able to meet the mountain, the farmer, and the journey behind it. No guessing. No gray areas. Just an honest line from seed to cup.

The Philippines is one of the rare places on earth that can grow Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberica. We’ve got volcanic soil, wild microclimates, and a coffee-loving culture. And yet—we still import a lot of what we drink. That disconnect? It closes when we lift up our own beans the right way. For Benguet Arabica, that begins (and stands or falls) with traceability.

Benguet Arabica has a voice you can recognize: bright, citrusy, a little nutty and caramel-sweet, clean on the finish. Sometimes it gets compared to Kona or Blue Mountain. But a reputation like that is fragile. One mislabeled sack can undo years of work from farmers who did everything right.

Continue reading “Traceability Is the heartbeat of Benguet Arabica’s comeback”

Blockchain and coffee — sounds cool. No, this is not bitcoin, the cryptocurrency as part of a coffee shop’s payment app. When I order a cup of coffee, I ask for the origin and sometimes even the farmer. As a budding coffee producer, I know how challenging it is to plant Arabica. I have not even reached the post-harvesting or roasting stage.  Picture this. From bean to cup, it takes 15 steps to get you that perfect cup of coffee. Forty Hands Coffee in Singapore took its name from the 40 hands it takes to produce a coffee from seed to cup.

I chanced upon a “Blockchain Coffee” episode on The Coffee Podcast from Spotify.  The world’s first coffee blockchain auction, was launched in partnership with Yave (Yave.io), a blockchain trading application startup, and Guatemalan Coffees. The auction offered the possibility of “faster payment for farmers, immutable traceability, and unprecedented market access breakthroughs.”

Agnep Heritage Farm does not conduct farm tours. For inquiries on other coffee farm tours, please visit Philippine Coffee Board or email admin.pcbi@gmail.com . 

The best way to get an overview of the Philippine coffee industry is to join coffee farm tours, thanks to the Philippine Coffee board . Before I started this tour last February 2018, my limited knowledge on coffee beans rested on the difference between Arabica and Barako beans. All I know was I bought Philippine coffee either from the Cordillera region or Cavite.

I certainly learned a lot during the tour with additional inputs from “Philippine Coffee Industry Roadmap 2017-2022.”. Let me give you some of the highlights:

1. The Philippine Coffee’s current production volumes is only 37,000 metric tons (MT), with an area of 117,454 hectares (ha), and an average yield of 300 kilograms (kg) per hectare.

2. Philippine climate and land are suitable to growing four coffee varieties – Robusta, Arabica, Excelsa and Liberica. The most common variety grown in the country is Robusta, which accounted for 69 percent of total production in 2015. Robusta is mainly used for instant coffee. Next is Arabica, which contributes 24 percent (%). Arabica is mostly cultivated in high elevation areas (1000 meters above sea level) and sells at a premium price. It is primarily used for brewing or blending. Thevother varieties are Excelsa and Liberica (kapeng barako).

Continue reading “A coffee farm tour in Cavite, Philippines”