MANILA, Philippines - I never thought Philippine coffee would score this way – 83, 84. These numbers are not grades on a report card but, in a way, these are grades nevertheless.
In Specialty Coffee, you have to be an 80 or higher. The point system called the Q system was introduced by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) to allow specialty coffee to have a common “language.” 80s taste finer, whether it is an Arabica or a Robusta.
It’s a scale up to 100 and 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. It can also be earthy, grassy or simply unacceptable as a fine coffee.
The Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) started cupping classes to graduate Q graders back in March 2016. This is all part of a project called MinPACT or Mindanao Productivity in Agriculture, Commerce and Trade, a US Department of Agriculture (USDA)-funded project implemented by ACDI/VOCA since two years ago and will be completed by June 2018.
Because we now have cuppers and graders (those who passed), farmers and coffee buyers now “cup” their coffees after processing.
This has led to coffee people speaking the same “language of coffee” when before, all farmers knew was a price market where beans were graded usually by a big buyer or trader, of course subjectively. Now, farmers can grade their own coffee before even pricing it.
The exercise and continuing classes led PCBI, ACDI/VOCA and CQI to suggest a first-ever KAPE PILIPINO green coffee quality competition held last March 4 at Cavite State University.
The winning Arabica came from a far away community in Bukidnon, the Inhandig Tribal Multi-Purpose Cooperative of Bai Adeline Tarino. They scored a beautiful 85.84 and the head judge Samuel Gurel said it had “floral” notes. It is a Typica variety (one of the oldest varieties) and was processed naturally. This means it was picked ripe, dried in the sun and allowed to develop its flavors naturally. It got the highest score.
The other category was for Robusta, or Caffea Canephora which is 90 percent of our Philippine production. This variety grows at lower elevations of at least 300 meters above sea level and may grow around foothills of mountains and places where volcanic soil abounds (Cavite and Batangas, for example). A Robusta from Bukidnon, Imelda Mendoza’s Kape Maramag, scored 83.75. It was also described by Gurel as having notes of dark chocolate and floral notes, again. Another judge said some Robustas tasted like black currant. This coffee, again, was processed naturally – using sun and no water.
These two specialty coffees were showcased at the Global Specialty Coffee Expo hosted by the Specialty Coffee Association of America in Seattle, Washington on April 20-23.“This ‘cupping’ at the Global Coffee Expo in Seattle is a prelude to making the world know of Philippine coffee,” said Agriculture Undersecretary Evelyn Laviña, who led the Philippine delegation.The Coffee Quality Institute also showcased Philippine coffee in its booth and recognized the Bukidnon-based coffee farmers during its 19th Annual luncheon held on April 23. After the Coffee Expo, the Philippine delegation participated in the Port-to-Cup Coffee Tour supported and organized by Atlas Coffee and the CQI, to visit facilities in Seattle and Portland, Oregon. The Philippine Specialty Coffee Industry will have the chance to physically see the path coffee takes once it arrives in the US, to better understand the US specialty coffee industry and to further develop direct relationships with some top coffee roasters and retailers. It is meant as an opportunity for roasters and coffee shop owners, and other coffee stakeholders, to talk about coffee, including storage, transport, roasting techniques, roast curves, packaging, equipment and other details of the trade. While noting the tight competition in the global market for coffee, Philippine Agriculture attaché Josyline Javelosa is optimistic that with the climatic and soil conditions in key areas of the Philippines, the farmers’ sustainable practices and the joint focus and efforts of the government and private sector in developing the specialty coffee industry in partnership with trading partners, quality Philippine coffee can have its niche in the US and the world, and the premium price it can potentially enjoy will be expected as a means to increase the incomes of small-holder coffee farmers.
I am ecstatic that Cavite and Laguna farmers need not give up coffee because prices are too volatile. Imelda Villanueva scored 82.54 for her Magallanes, Cavite Robustas. “We go back to the tree maybe three times during the harvest season,” she says. “We do not strip pick and we make sure they are all ripe and ready for drying.” Simple secrets, or not secrets at all – just common sense. A fruit (which coffee is) is best when ripe, as that is how Nature intended it to be. Green cherry or coffee fruit is not ripe; you need to wait for it to turn red.
Cavite need not strip pick and sell to lower bid buyers. There is a chance to make a coffee sell two or three times market price. PCBI director Princess Lala Sug-Elardo sells her specialty Fine Robusta at more than twice the market price, and she sells a lot to discriminate specialty buyers.
We found samples from all over the country – Palawan, Laguna and Bulacan for Robusta; Benguet, Mountain Province, Bukidnon and Davao for the Arabicas. I am also excited for the special category of Liberica and Excelsa which will not compete but will now have “flavor notes” other than a “pharmacoepical” or medicinal taste. Barako and Excelsa were always described as having a jackfruit taste. Let us see what the judges have to say about them.
This is just the first of what will be an annual green coffee competition now dubbed as KAPE PILIPINO. This may be the start of the rebirth of the Philippine coffee industry, and the impetus that will drive new, younger farmers to plant coffee. I hear a Philippine Coffee Council is in the works and that may be the driving force to get more farmers to plant coffee, even just to address our increasing imports and turn it around to make us coffee exporters once again. This time, for specialty coffee. There is a seat a the table and we have to take it now. – With the Public Diplomacy Section of the Philippine embassy in Washington DC