TAGUM CITY ? On a dusty, bumpy road leading to Davao region?s summer capital is a quaint, rural stop where you can sip a cup of hot, rich cocoa, locally known as sikwate, even in the dead of night.

And if you have extra money to spare, there?s a tasty saccharine puto (rice cake) to go with it.

For the weary and starving banana truckers and travelers bound for resorts in Compostela Valley?s Maragusan town, AF Sikwate ug Kan-anan in Barangay (village) Magangit, New Bataan, is a welcome oasis in the middle of an unpaved national road linking the two towns.

Most of the customers of this snack stop are truck drivers working for big banana companies in Maragusan or miners trying their luck at a gold-rush site near the town, according to owner Arnold Flores.

The establishment takes pride in its rich sikwate, brewed from tabliya, or cocoa tablet, which the village is producing in abundance.

The business was conceived last year when prices of dried cacao seeds ? from which cocoa is made ? fell at the local market, Flores says.

?I would be losing much if I sell my produce at [the local market], so I had to look for an alternative,? he says.

Compostela Valley has over 2,000 hectares of land planted to cacao, and these areas are concentrated in upland towns like Laak and New Bataan, according to Manolo Cayme, assistant provincial agriculturist.

Flores has a one-hectare cacao plantation several hundred paces from his snack stop. He gets the tabliya for the snack stop from his ?mini-plantation.?

What persuaded the former Vitarich quality inspector to put up a snack stop was the dearth of such establishments on the almost desolate 50-kilometer highway connecting Maragusan to the rest of the province via the provincial center, Nabunturan.

?The first meal stop is in Nabunturan, and after that, in Barangay Camanlangan, New Bataan just before reaching Maragusan. That?s some 30 kilometers or so apart ... a long wait to those already hungry motorists,? says Flores, 38, a BS Agriculture graduate.

With determination and P25,000, Flores plunged into the venture. He hired two cooks and three waitresses to help him out. And to save on costs, Flores acts as manager and janitor or househelp, cleaning tables and grating coconut flesh for puto.

Flores acknowledges that his business still has a long way to go, even though revenues are on the rise, thanks to the unique rich blend of sikwate his store offers.

?Since most of our patrons are rural folk, we always see to it that our main product is prepared in such a way that its rural flavor, richness and aroma are preserved,? he says.

With development creeping in the area, apart from the expansion of banana plantations in Maragusan and the perceived gold boom in a village there, Flores is optimistic of a windfall.

?The concreting of the national road will also help lure more local tourists to Maragusan, and we will also be benefiting from that,? the entrepreneur says.

The establishment ? its Cebuano name means hot cocoa drink and diner ? is open from 4 a.m. up to 10 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays.

With the influx of more customers, the establishment is now ?diversifying,? serving hefty meals, offering native cuisine like tinolang manok (chicken stew) and others.

?Customers normally ask for other orders than the sikwate-puto so we offer dishes,? Flores says.

A cup of hot, thick sikwate costs P10 and a complement of puto may be had for P3.

So the next time you?re on an excursion to Maragusan?s cold spring resorts and balmy weather, try the stop at Magangit and take that cup of hot, rich sikwate.