A PHILIPPINE Coffee Guild official warned consumers about “dubious” and “self-serving” awards.
Dr. Emmanuel Garcia, the group’s chairperson, said during Wednesday’s at Habi at Kape Media Forum at Abreeza that the Philippine Coffee Expo 2023 aims to educate the public about specialty beans to make the industry sustainable.
“While people are steadily becoming more aware of this, a lot of people still fall prey to certain dubious awards. But what we bring to the people here is the criteria that are used to evaluate the coffees,” he said.
The criteria are established by the Coffee Quality Institute and the Specialty Coffee Association, which will be used during the Philippine Coffee Quality Competition.
“The goal is to promote Philippine coffee and to further educate the industry. We have to promote by showcasing the best that we have,” Garcia said.
Another goal of the coffee expo is to educate the other players, such as the farmers, about the coffee industry and the standards.
“I think with this, people would be benefitting the farmers more because they are purchasing coffees that are duly evaluated and not just promoted using ‘self-serving’ awards,” he said.
Meanwhile, Art Hermoso, provincial director of the Department of Trade and Industry XI, said they work closely with the Department of Agriculture for premium quality coffee products.
“We really push farmers to achieve quality from seed to cup,” she said.
The Philippine Coffee Expo 2023 will be held on June 2-4, 2023, at the World Trade Center, Manila.
