WAKING UP THE 'SLEEPY' PH COFFEE BUSINESS
ingness to help in any endeavor that would expand the market for barako.
The Asuncion couple started in 1975 as coffee traders in their hometown of Silang, Cavite, which became a new coffee production hub. They bought from farmers they personally knew and the relationship they cultivated with the producers gave them access to the best coffee beans.
The Asuncions went into the export business in 1980, with Boyd’s in Portland, Oregon, United States as their first client. By 1988, their company had become the fourth largest exporter of Philippine coffee to the US. The company started roasting its coffee in 2010, a fulfillment of the promise made by the late Enrile to their customers.
Dimas, founder of BSU’s Arabica Coffee-Benguet Pine Base Agroforestry, currently BSU’s Center of Arabica Coffee Research Development and Extension, said “After college, I started planting coffee trees under pine tress and was criticized for it.” Other experts scoffed at the idea.
In spite of the naysayers, Dimas said, “I was able to prove that coffee could grow under pine trees.”
He also developed other coffee-related technologies to support his innovation.
Guest speaker Senator Cynthia Villar expressed her family’s support for coffee saying, “Manny (Manuel, the former senator and presidential candidate and her husband) loves coffee … and started his own [coffee] business with the Coffee Project (a coffee shop chain).”
She mentioned legislation she sponsored to help farmers, particularly one that would establish farm schools in every town.
“Farmers lack technical expertise. They do not mechanize and they lack financial literacy,” she said. “The schools will make them more competitive and (their farms) profitable.”
PCBI’s Guillermo Luz said the Philippines was one of the few countries in the world that produced all four coffee varieties —liberica, arabica, robusta and excelsa.
For the award ceremonies, master chef Cyrille Soenen, drector of culinary arts of the Dusit Hospitality Management College and Dusit D2 The Fort, prepared a coffee-infused menu from appetizers to desserts.
PCBI, a coffee industry organization, is co-chaired by Nicholas Matti and Pacita Juan, who is also president. Juan said that since its establishment, the board had organized 10 coffee summits and organized at least one coffee event every month.