I attended last Wednesday’s press conference of the Liberal Party (LP) here in Davao City, and before it started I headed for the percolator at the back of the venue to get some coffee. Upon getting there I was shocked by two things: first, the restaurant — one of the most popular in the city — was serving instant coffee (why set up a percolator at all?), and second, Senator Mar Roxas, the vice presidential candidate, was making his own cup of joe.
I mean, there he was, a Senator of the Republic, scion of not just one but two of the the richest families in the country (Roxas and Araneta), running for the second highest office in the land, standing there right in front of me tearing open a sachet of Nescafé and mixing it in his cup of hot water. And it wasn’t like he had the luxury of time; the press con was already starting, with moderator Tony Ajero already making the preliminaries, and yet there he was, making his own coffee. That it was instant coffee added to the surreality of it all: it would have been different if he had been whipping up a cappuccino with a La Pavoni Europiccola a la James Bond in Live and Let Die. But it was instant coffee, the kind that comes in plastic sachets that you buy for a few pesos at the neighborhood sari-sari. The kind you’d never think Mar Roxas would drink, let alone mix himself.
That Nescafé moment was interesting because I had been ruminating on the fact that over the past three days I had been served instant coffee more times than I cared to remember. And these were places you wouldn’t think would serve the fake stuff: I was in Malacañang with other Mindanao reporters on Monday and we were served instant coffee after lunch. It was served already mixed to give the impression it was brewed, but I have been drinking coffee long enough to know what it really was.
I had a short talk with Roxas and took the opportunity to ask him for his take on the country’s coffee industry. “We will regain our coffee industry’s greatness by ensuring ample supply chain and marketing support to our coffee farmers, focusing our efforts in producing niche, specialty and high-value coffee blends,” he said.
In an earlier press statement, Roxas had cited government statistics that showed coffee production has decreased from a high of 127,000 metric tons in the last 20 years to 97,428 in 2008. “In a similar time period, the total land area cultivated with coffee fell from 130,000 hectares to around 70,000, according to the Cavite State University,” he added.
All is not lost, however: in our short talk, Roxas said it is still possible to revive the coffee industry’s greatness “as long as there is a guided and targeted government plan to support coffee farmers and the whole coffee industry.” He said in 2001, when he was Secretary of Trade and Industry, he bonded together with local leaders and the private sector to pursue a common vision to revive the coffee industry in Cavite. This led to the creation of the Café Amadeo Development Cooperative, which had as its aim the production of the “Pahimis” blend, among other specialty coffee blends for the export and domestic markets.
Roxas through the DTI then assisted the farmers’ cooperative in its requisites for growth, including securing a P11.7 million loan from Quedan Corporation and helping out in marketing their products. “Now, Cafe Amadeo is a world-renowned producer and marketer of coffee for export and local sale, and supports more than 4,500 coffee farmers,” Roxas said.
I have not tried Pahimis, but I do know that there are numerous coffee varieties being grown in the Philippines that can give other countries a run for their money. In my house I make cappuccino out of Monk’s Blend from Bukidnon, a dark roast of arabica and robusta beans. And Bobby Timonera of MindaNews left me a bag of unroasted coffee from Baguio when he was here a few weeks ago; we roasted and brewed some and I must say it really stands out.
Malacañang ought to be at the forefront of promoting Filipino coffee. Here’s hoping that, whoever wins the election, no more instant coffee will be served in its hallowed halls.
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