Philippine Coffee Project
The Year is 2020 and I’ve been dreaming about building an enterprise that would source a world-class product from rural communities in the Philippines, and propel the growth of the Philippines agricultural sector, for nearly a decade. I am nowhere near that dream. I’m perpetually doing ‘homework’ and studying the industry. I’m acting like a student in an extended doctorate course, if they were to offer one that is ten years long. I’m scared that this dream is bigger than I can handle, yet I still dream wildly about it.
The dream that will fulfill the nearly 10 year in-the-making dream is to create a coffee business that would import high-quality coffee from the Philippines of the likes of how Carmel and Kalsada Coffee is making waves and exporting coffee from the Philippines to specialty roasters in the US. It’s quite remarkable how far they’ve come over the years and how many places they are making Philippine Coffee available in North America.
However, I know that even with existing efforts from an organization like Kalsada, we are nowhere near the coffee production we need to be, in order to make buying Philippine Coffee sustainable. A couple of years back, I recall corresponding with a respected coffee industry expert about the potential for Philippine Coffee to scale. He said plainly, that there needs to be massive efforts of 10,000s of acres of coffee plantings and investment in farm management. The way I understand it is we need to multiply Kalsada’s efforts exponentially.
As a result, I still hold on to this dream of importing Philippine Coffee myself, even if I haven’t done anything, but buy Philippine Coffee and advocate for it, as a consumer and Barista. Even though, I don’t have access to much capital and am limited in resources, I still feel in my gut that I can help in making this dream of Philippine Coffee a reality.
So I write. I’ll be writing about Philippine Coffee and will use A Coffee Journal by Roberto Francisco as my guide. A couple of years ago, I was introduced to Roberto, or Robert, from my good friend, Zee, via email. I heard from the green buyer of Blue Bottle Coffee at the time that Robert self-published a book about Philippine Coffee, so I asked Zee if she could connect me to Robert, so I could purchase it. Robert exceeded my expectations and sent me a copy of his book without cost.
From where I am in LA, I share the book with coffee professionals and enthusiasts who are interested in coffee from the Philippines, and it sits on the top of my coffee table, so that I have easy access to it.
My intention is to dissect the book and document how I’m processing the information and understanding the book for my own personal coffee journey. I hope to capture how my coffee journey develops, as a Filipino-American with a great passion for Philippine Coffee.
It’s going to be a very intimate process, and I hope I can share it with you properly. I also hope you’ll feel moved enough to journey with me or even start your own personal journey in Philippine Coffee.
Cheers to this Philippine Coffee project! Can’t wait to begin and share!
