THE US-based Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) has partnered with the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) to help local coffee farmers improve the quality of their produce and tap the export market.
CQI, an institution promoting specialty coffee, and PCBI recently signed a memorandum of agreement to conduct classes, seminars and certificate courses for Q grading, Robusta, or R, grading and roasting classes.
“With the partnership of PCBI and CQI, more than 100 farmers will be trained in grading Robusta and Arabica coffee,” PCBI President Pacita Juan said in a statement.
“This way, farmers are able to taste their coffee straight from the farm and will be able to join auctions and competitions for better prices. Green coffee can fetch even 500 percent more, if properly labeled and graded,” Juan added.
With these courses on quality, PCBI said the country’s P21-billion coffee sector could double in market value.
Juan said Philippine coffee could become competitive in the world market. She said there is a market for fine Robustas (grading 80 and up) and Specialty Arabicas, but only if farmers know the correct way of processing a consistent lot of his produce.
“This is the key that will unlock the Philippine coffee secret to the world. Cupping or grading coffee is the international language all Filipino farmers must understand to be able to command the best price for green coffee beans for international roasters,” Juan said.
Domestic consumption of coffee is pegged at 120,000 metric tons (MT) annually. Juan added that demand is steadily rising at 3 percent per year, but annual production has remained at almost 25,000 MT to 30,000 MT for the past 10 years, due to lack of information on global quality standards.
“The short cut has been to roast green coffee, hiding its defects and coming up with a solution that is not sustainable for farmers. Roasted coffee fetches more due to its ‘ready-to-brew’ nature and not because it is of high quality,” Juan said.
PCBI said senior adviser Ted Lingle, known in the coffee world as the “coffee guru” and CQI Operations Director Lisa Conway met with coffee stakeholders from Benguet to Davao and assessed the situation to improve coffee quality.
Juan said more coffee experts will arrive in the country for the Ninth National Coffee summit in Davao slated on October 12 and 13 in SMX Lanang. Joel Shuler and Mario Fernandez, who met Juan earlier in the Specialty Coffee Association of America show, confirmed their attendance to the October events.