The Davao Coffee Council, in partnership with the SM Lanang Premiere, opened yesterday the three-day 2nd Coffee Fest at SM Lanang Premiere.
The fest highlights the coffee produced by the local coffee farmers, especially the winners of the Philippine Coffee Quality Competition, the Balukatay Coffee Farmers from Bansalan, Davao del Sur, which maintains farms in the foothills of Mt. Apo.
“In this kind of activity we can promote our local coffee farmers and right now some of them are having their training (at) DTI sponsored by the Davao Coffee Council,” said Joji Felicitas Pantoja, chair of the Davao Coffee Council and Chief Executive Officer of Coffee for Peace.
According to Pantoja, having the highest mountain in the country, the region produces good quality coffee with a grade of 85.37% classified by the Specialty Coffee Association, which was also stamp marked by the Coffee Quality Institute.
The Specialty Coffee Association is a nonprofit, membership-based organization that represents thousands of coffee professionals, from producers to baristas all over the world. At the same time the Coffee Quality Institute is a stakeholder in supplying chains to improve coffee quality, from technical services to training initiatives.
Carlo Martinez, treasurer of Davao Coffee Council, said the event is a good way to showcase what the local farmers are trying to do now.
He also appealed to the public to support local coffee products.
“Even how hard we promote, the local industry will surely fall if no one consumes or buys our local coffee products,” Martinez said. “We are proud of our coffee and let’s (patronize) our coffee.”
Martinez also admitted that local farmers wanted to export but they don’t have enough supply for such.
“There is a very chaotic but romanticized processing methods being used and being taught to help our farmers and the good thing is we’re being exposed last month in Boston (USA), our coffees were launched as Philippine coffee,” he said.
The winning coffee from the Philippine Coffee Quality Competition 2019 was publicly cupped at the SGA Global Expo held last April 11-14 at Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
