Waging war for Philippine coffee

Michael Harris Conlin distributes moisture meters to farmer beneficiaries in a Benguet community. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

A new KKK is hoping to make a change.

But unlike its venerable namesake—the Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan—that launched a revolution against foreign invaders, the modern KKK has a modest goal. It simply wants to help revive the Philippines’ coffee industry and help uplift the lives of coffee growers and producers.

Michael Harris Conlin, president and chief executive of Henry & Sons (H&S), has committed himself and the company to boosting the Philippine coffee industry.

“Our mission is to help [coffee] farmers have the correct tools and other items that they need to make farms more productive,” Conlin said. KKK, which stands for Kape Kabuhayan Kinabukasan, seeks to raise the value of coffee beans by improving their quality and by educating farmers to improve and enhance their skills.

KKK is the core project of the Foundation for Sustainable Coffee Excellence (FSCE), H&S’ corporate social responsibility initiative that aims to create a more sustainable coffee industry. Its goal is to bring the Philippines back into the global coffee spotlight by addressing major issues that keep local coffee growers from producing quality output.

Conlin pointed out that in the 19th century, the Philippines was the world’s fourth top coffee producer. Today, it only provides 1.8 percent of the global demand, 110th in terms of output.

KKK’s multi-pronged campaign aims to help the industry beginning from the planting to the preparation and serving of coffee—or from the grower to the barista who brews the beverage in cafes and restaurants.

Conlin himself is an expert barista. He represented the Philippines in the recent World Barista Championship in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States, where Filipino coffee was featured for the first time, he said.

Conlin prepares his winning brew. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

H&S has created the Bloom Coffee, a special blend offered to discerning clients and consumers to raise funds for the foundation’s projects to promote the revival of the local coffee industry. The projects include:

Cup to Seed – Coffee summits and postharvest facilities to ensure quality produce and livelihood programs to assist local coffee farmers between planting and harvesting, or when money is scarce

Beans within Reach – Coffee programs promoting traceability and connecting local growers to global buyers

Beans for the Little Ones – Distribution of mosquito nets, vaccination programs and dental missions for children

Coffee for Great Minds – Educational assistance and coffee training. The foundation also supports a few scholars taking up courses related to coffee production.

The Giving Well – Atmospheric water generators for clean and potable water

At present, beneficiaries of H&S projects are mainly coffee farming communities in Benguet. Beneficiaries total over 2,000 members of coffee farming communities in the province.

To bring the benefits of its programs to more people and strengthen its efforts to help more farmers, the foundation created last year “TGC: A Social Enterprise,” with part of the proceeds from its various platforms going to the FSCE’s programs. TGC initiatives include The Giving Café, a brick-and-mortar coffee bar in Mandaluyong City; The Giving Caravan, a mobile coffee shop; and The Giving Cart, a mobile pop-up café that can be set up for events, meetings and celebrations.

Through these campaigns and projects, H&S wants to establish a long-term, continually evolving and sustainable coffee culture. It also hopes that, through KKK, it will not only help improve the lives of today’s farmers but also help the youth in coffee-farming communities to see the benefits of continuing the centuries-old trade.

Conlin said the company wanted the Philippines to produce the best quality coffee, not just as a top producer in terms of quantity.

The firm has this to achieve: “Through KKK, we aim to contribute to the local coffee production 105,600 kilos in the next decade by replicating our efforts in other coffee-farming communities nationwide. In addition to this, it is our aim to elevate the quality of our local coffee [and register] the 85-89 cupping score (The industry uses the Specialty Coffee Association protocol that grades the brew based on a 100-point scale.).”

With each of the KKK’s programs easily adaptable to fit larger or smaller communities, H&S hopes to partner with LGUs in bringing this initiative to more places. Initial focus of expansion plans are coffee-farming communities in Batangas, Cavite, Bukidnon, Sulu and South Cotabato, which have become the country’s major coffee suppliers in recent years. —CONTRIBUTED