Long way for PH coffee brew to go global
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
The champions of local coffee in the government and private sector still have a lot of work to do before Philippine coffee can become a regular fixture in the world’s coffee chains.
The champions of local coffee in the government and private sector still have a lot of work to do before Philippine coffee can become a regular fixture in the world’s coffee chains.
I remember opening my first coffee shop after college right along Katipunan Avenue. That was many years ago and to this day, I remember the long hours we devoted to trying out recipes and doing what in today’s culinary language would be called “R&D” or research and development.
In December 1997, the long queues at the first Starbucks store at 6750 Ayala indicated that a robust business was about to brew. The attraction was that Starbucks was an icon of American culture.
Demand for coffee is rising, mostly because of availability of a wide variety of instant coffee and instant coffee mixes, according to an industry group.
It was a little less than 20 years ago when I first signed up for a Coffee Education course in Caffe D’Arte in Seattle.
Starbucks is betting on big returns as it seeks to lure an expanding legion of coffee lovers in India – primarily a tea-drinking nation where lifestyle changes have spawned a booming market for cafes.
It used to be that coffee just meant a cup of brown liquid poured into your mug, ad libitum while eating your California breakfast of fried eggs “sunnyside up” bacon and sausage or your lox and bagel if you happened to be in New York.
Call them heirloom varieties just like “old world” wine.
Coffee consumption in the country has grown almost as fast as coffee production has fallen in recent years.
Anything that we ingest has profound physiological effects, some immediate, others over time. Food can also influence our behavior and emotions.
Heeding the call for support of minority communities, Robinsons Supermarket turned over boxes of coffee, courtesy of Nescafe to Project Malasakit, a Security and Exchange Commission-registered foundation focusing on education for the underprivileged and outreach to the minorities.
Nestlé Philippines, operating in the country for more than a hundred years now, plans to expand its “instant” coffee-making facilities here, supposedly investing some $160 million.
