Arabica coffee bags second place in the first Philippine coffee cupping competition

ONCE again, the Arabica coffee of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) proved to be superior when the entry of the Benguet State University landed second place with a cupping score of 84.92 in the Arabica coffee category among 78 entries throughout the Philippines. The University’s Arabica coffee was from the Coffee Farm at the Institute of Highland Farming Systems and Agroforestry (BSUIHFSA) located at Bektey, Longlong, Puguis, La Trinidad, Benguet. Topping the Arabica coffee category was Inhandig Tribal Multi-Purpose Cooperative (ITMPC) of Malaybalay City, Bukidnon with a score of 85.75 while Kape Maramag of Maramag, Bukidnon won in the Robusta category with 83.75 points.

Dubbed “First Kape Pilipino Coffee Quality Competition”, it aimed to determine the producers of high quality coffee in the country. The activity was held last March 1-4, 2017 in Cavite State University, Indang, Cavite. This is one of the projects under Mindanao Productivity in Agricultural Commerce and Trade (MinPACT) funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was administered by Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA) with the Coffee Quality Institute’s (CQI) in the country as its partner together with the Philippine Coffee Board, Inc (PCBI). The quest for the best Arabica and Robusta coffee from the Philippines began since March 2016 when PCBI and ACDIVOCA conducted trainings on Introduction to the Q-grading System to have certified Q-graders and improve the country’s specialty coffee industry. The Q-grading system introduced by CQI serves as the common “language” in determining specialty coffee.

Pacita “Chit” Juan, PCBI President and CoChair, in a Facebook post said that to be considered “specialty” grade, a coffee must score at least 80. “On a 100-point scale, trained palates called Q-graders taste the coffee, smell the grounds, the brew and slurp as much as they can to describe its ‘notes’. Notes are the reminders of floral, caramel, chocolate, spice, fruits that a grader may associate the taste and smell with,” she added.

Arabica (Coffea Arabica) and Robusta (Coffea canephora) are two of the more popular coffee species in the world. Arabica coffee generally regarded as the best coffee, accounts for 60% of the world’s coffee production and grows well under light shade in the cool climate of the highlands. Meanwhile, Robusta coffee grows productively in the lowlands and is popular among instant coffees.

Coffee samples of these species with no more than 11% moisture content from farmer associations/cooperative and individual farmers were submitted to the Cavite State University, Benguet State University and ACDIVOCA offices. These were coded and reviewed under strict standards set by CQI. The judges composed of four international coffee cuppers were Mbula Musau of Kenya, Shaun Ong from Singapore, Lalida Sithipruthanon from Thailand and Samuel Eli Gurel from the USA, panel head and founder of Torch Coffee.

It is interesting to note that most of the Top 10 in the Arabica category came from the CAR specifically from the province of Benguet and Mountain Province). Other Arabica entries were from as far as Sulu while most entries for Robusta came from Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, and Palawan. The results proved that the Arabica coffee production and postharvest processing technologies established by BSU is at par with international standards thus highly recommended to the Arabica coffee growers and processors.