Philippine Coffee Board Celebrated Coffee Month Festival

In celebration of Coffee Month, the Philippine Coffee Board’s annual coffee festival was held at the Greenbelt Malls last October 13-26, 2009. This year’s festival was dubbed “Coffee Origins, Discovering the Philippines’ Best.”

Exhibitors conducted seminars, coffee cupping, and primers on how to open your own coffee shop. Various contests and activities such as barista classes were also organized. All seminars were held at Le Bistro in Salcedo Village.

Seminar about basic coffee 101 (with hands-on barista), how to put up a coffee shop, coffee cupping, coffee farming, and professional coffee course (with Barista 101) were held during the event. Appreciation courses for office workers were held after office hours by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)-accredited Philippine Coffee and Barista Academy.

The festival ran from October 13-26 at the Greenbelt 5 Gallery, while it only lasted from October 13-21 at the Greenbelt 3 Lobby. Free samples from different roasters and processors, small towns and private farms were given away throughout the event.

The first 50 visitors on October 17 and 18 got a free taste of Kapeng Alamid, which is touted to be the world's most expensive coffee at P14, 000/kilo as compared to P150-300/kilo of usual Philippine coffees. The coffee beans are harvested by wild cats in the rainforest of Benguet and Mindanao. The free Kapeng Alamid was sponsored by CAFEX, Roasters of Batangas Harvest, Cafe Montealto and Continental Coffee and Cordillera Coffee of Frank and Grace Young.

Also in line with Coffee Month, the second National Coffee Summit was held last October 26 at the AIM Conference Center. The theme of the conference was “Creating Partnerships for Self-Sufficiency in Coffee.” Registration fee of Php 2,500 per person was inclusive of meals.

Coffee Origins was made possible in cooperation with Ayala Malls, Kape Isla, Nescafe, and Greenbelt.

Official sponsors were Gourmet’s, Equal, Cordillera Coffee, Sony Centre, Rancilio, Continental Coffee, and Aquabest. Media Partners were Inquirer.net, Business Mirror, Mellow 94.7, Business World, HerWord.com, HighLife, and 2nd Avenue.

For more details about Philippine Coffee Board and its events, call/text (63915) 576-7886, e-mail philcoffeeboard@gmail.com or visit http://www.coffeeboard.com.ph.