I’ve never really thought about how the excellent cup of coffee I’m drinking journeyed from the mountains. I didn’t know great coffee is picked only as red cherries (harvesting everything in those cute clumps is a bad idea). Turns out they had to go through so many stages before the beans are roasted and ground to that perfect blend of just the right taste and aroma.
Not until I joined the quest to launch W-blend, the coffee from women farmers of Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon now sold in coffee shops in Cagayan de Oro and other key cities in the country.
Along the way, I met some awesome local coffee stakeholders. First, the owners of Milestone Coffee: sisters Yan & Jan Estoque who bravely opened their coffee shop at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. These two shared their experience of keeping the shop running to keep their staff employed despite the challenges. They had to make sure the store is frequently disinfected, their customers protected and the business in the black. Order your W-blend here: https://www.facebook.com/milestonecoffeePh
Then there’s Anatista Perez of Don Narciso Café in Claveria who went through temporary closures following LGU lockdowns but instead of getting disheartened, used the lull to set up a roasting lab with state of the art coffee roasting facility for women farmers like herself. And yes, that beloved café on top of the mountains continue to give joy to travelers. Check out their lab & equipment at https://www.facebook.com/tista.tista
There’s Aurora Chiong of JODACA, Cora Lauderes of IMDALSA, Imelda Mendoza of Kape Maramag and Tupe Tangkihay of Cape de Ticala. These are the local farmers whose hands picked, processed & sorted the beans that made it to the special W-blend.
Working with them in this City initiative also meant representing them with the USAID/SURGE-WGDP and the Phil Coffee Board and participating in Quality Grading/Cupping and Flavor Development training. I joined their journey through Q-Grading their harvest, roasting & creating a blend! And that’s another story worth a full mentoring course. Check out the high demand coffee training courses in the CDO Coffee Project only here at SBIR.
