Saldua‘s coffee legacy in Negros Occidental: Why we support them and you should, too
“WE appreciate every good coffee, but never the coffee farmers. It's about time we appreciate them.” JUST like a good, rich, and tasting coffee, the Philippine Coffee Industry has a rich history, from where it was first introduced in Lipa City, Batangas, wherein it became the Coffee Capital of the Philippines. Up to its glory days when the Philippines became the fourth largest exporter of coffee beans until the coffee rust hit Brazil, Africa, and Java, the Philippines became the only source of coffee beans worldwide. That includes the selling of coffee to America, through San Francisco, and successively, with the opening of the Suez Canal, the European market opened.
However, the Philippine coffee industry also experienced its ups and downs thereafter and never recovered its glory days when the coffee rust also reached the Philippine coasts, destroying all the coffee plants in Batangas. Coffee rust is a destructive disease caused by a rust fungus, called Hemileia vastatrix. It can reduce coffee production by up to 50% or possibly more.
The Bean Belt
COFFEE grown in fifty countries is along the equatorial zone called, the “Bean Belt”. The “Bean Belt” is the area called where almost all the world's coffee grows because the soil is fertile for coffee plants. Luckily, the Philippines lies within the “Bean Belt” and is blessed with favorable climate and soil conditions, from the lowland to the mountain regions. The Philippines is also one of the few countries that produce the four variants of commercially-viable coffee, namely Liberica (also known as Kapeng Barako from Batangas), Excelsa, Robusta, and Arabica.
Robusta coffee is probably the most
prevalent variety of coffee in the Philippines which is much easier to cultivate than Arabica. Almost 90 percent of coffee produced in the country is Robusta. From the boundary of Candoni and Sipalay in Southern Negros, Robusta coffee is the most prevalent and arep grown by the Saldua brothers who were long raised as coffee farmers and growers for lengthy years now.
Gregorio Saldua was hailed as the “uncle of all coffee farmers”, who tilled the sloping hills as a tenant for more than sixty years but became a victim along with his family of a fictitious land reform case which been trying to solve for the last 15 years were like indigenous to the place. But he did not survive the stress imposed on him.
Masing Saldua, died last July 13, 2022. According to the family, he was over 100 years old.
For so many years now, Robusta coffee was enjoyed and appreciated by the townspeople and is served in both the Wild Geese and Sanrise coffee shops for more than sixty long years by the Saldua’s in Negros Occidental.
Traditional coffee process
After picking the coffee beans, they extract the coffee beans using a wooden pounder, gradually pounding the coffee beans to easily extract the beans. This is a traditional way of doing it. After the pounding process, manually they separate the beans from the skin, then, they soak them in water and one by one, removing the beans’ skin. They need to wash it thoroughly to remove the “stickiness” because it will take longer for the beans to dry if the stickiness is not completely removed. Once the texture becomes rough, it’s almost ready for sun-drying. The sundrying of the extracted coffee beans, usually, takes a week or more before it completely dries under the sun, it depends on the kind of weather they are undergoing. After the beans are completely dried, another round of pounding is required, to gently break the coffee bean shell using the wooden pounder and make sure not to damage the coffee bean inside.
Extraction of coffee beans
THE process is gently separating piece by piece using bare hands. And that’s how the traditional method goes, with so much patience, perseverance and diligence, that’s how our coffee farmers ensure the best Robusta coffee we will enjoy. After that, the Saldua farmers need to dry it again under the sun for a week. They want it more dried because it is much better in the roasting process. Once the coffee beans are in the roasting process under fire you should not stop mixing them until it becomes dark brown or black, or whatever you preferred. In the roasting process, you need to lower the heat to best compensate for the mixing of the coffee beans.
Ginding of the roasted coffee bean
CURRENTLY, they are so many ways in grinding roasted beans. The traditional way of making Saldua’s Robusta coffee includes pounding to make a coffee powder. At present, a manual coffee grinder is used to make uncomplicated coffee powder while others are using an electronic coffee grinder or blender and then brewing it as often as you enjoy it.
Now, around 550 kilograms are usually bought in December of each year from remaining Saldua coffee farmers. The beans are small and have a distinctive taste. Around three months before each harvest, the Saldua farmers are provided with an interestfree advance. On top of that, the beans are bought at a higher price than the prevailing buying price, to sustain and support the legacy of the Saldua Robusta coffee in Negros Occidental.
How long can the Saldua farmers and growers of Negros Occidental survive?
The newly formed group of Filipino coffee artists, recently staged a modernday coffee “Bayanihan” ala Katipuneros inspired by the long-forgotten howls and battlecry of our beloved hero Gat Andres Bonifacio. They raised their cup of coffee as the medium of each and everyone’s Obra and stage a historical Coffee Art group exhibition at the 2022 Coffee Festival in SM City Sta. Mesa, in celebration of the music, coffee, and the arts, and called “PADAYON! Unang Sulong, Unang Hakbang” to help and support local coffee farmers. (Rens E. Tuzon)