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Highland Coffee

Taste is a matter of personal preference and this is true when it comes to coffee. Individuals are fixated with coffee based on taste and aroma. These are considerations required in our daily cup of coffee. A strong or equally a somewhat milder flavor is dependent on how it was blended. Differences may vary in certain areas because of the requirements of people engaged in coffee production and processing. Differences in taste may occur but Cordillera coffee has made its own unique distinction when it comes to taste and aroma.

To produce the desired flavor, various coffee varieties are blended together. The principal aim in blending coffee is to arrive at a flavor and aroma that can be continually reproduced. Cordillera coffee is a natural product produced to perfection and processed to entice the inner self of warmth and openness. Given the quality of the harvest in Cordillera mountain slopes, the bean dictates the story of perfect blend and a true work of art.

Cordillera coffee is considered the best coffee served in town especially in café, coffee shops, and restaurants and most especially in Cordilleran households. This is the reason why it is dubbed the pride of every Cordilleran who has good taste and proud bearer of his culture.

Every coffee drinker craves for a perfect blend with an oozing aroma. Whether it is brewed in the traditional way or using a more sophisticated coffee brewer, it is always the aromatic scent that leads a person to crave for a second serving.

How do Cordillerans prepare this coffee? Where do they get that perfect coffee blend? Do they follow certain procedures? Are coffee drinkers aware of such process? These will be given light through shared stories behind the aromatic scent experienced by coffee lovers and produced by local growers.

Cordillera coffee
Being a Cordilleran myself, it is hard not to notice the aromatic scent of a brewing coffee from a distant household either in the traditional way from a steaming kettle over a hot fire or a percolator connected on an electric wall socket. The scent leads me to crave together with a slice of cinnamon roll or ensaymada found in a nearby bakery. It is like a feeling of love that once it is in your blood, it will never leave you. The good thing is, coffee is life and it is manifested by every coffee drinker.

Cordillera coffee has been in existence for the past 50 years or so when rice and vegetable farming were intensified. It was a constant beverage among farmers especially early morning before going to the field to attend to their farming activities.

Cordillerans made sure that there is always a hot brewing coffee. It became an energy drink to keep them warm together with local wine, tapuey also brewed to perfection from traditional upland rice varieties. It is also serves as a socializing activity that starts at four o'clock in the morning over burning firewood where stories unfold from generation to generation.

The introduction of coffee in the Philippines could be traced back upon the entry of the Spanish traders in the early 1500s. However, there is no record that would show the exact date of coffee production in the country that led our indigenous people to cultivate the crop intensively.

Accordingly, there were four coffee varieties introduced in the country directly from South America and Indonesia. These are Arabica, Excelsa, Liberica, and Robusta. Each variety has its own unique characteristics but requires the same production management techniques with varying climatic requirements and varieties that produced the best quality beans.

Cordillera coffee comes from the Arabica variety. It thrives well under Cordillera climatic and soil conditions especially on higher elevation. It was due to this that provinces of Cordillera produce them at their own desire. Kalinga and Apayao produce a blend of Arabica, Liberica, and Robusta; Mountain Province produces Arabica and Robusta; Benguet produces Arabica, Robusta, and Excelsa.

These coffee varieties are grown based on farmers' and peoples' resources and preferences. As such, every single coffee bean is a story of production on the hills and mountain slopes as farmers exchange stories of courage and strength.

Production management
The intensification of coffee production in the Cordillera is based on the concept of perfect blending. Researchers from the Benguet State University (BSU) have constantly been in search of innovative processes to produce that so-called "perfect blend". BSU coffee production is observed in the mountain slopes of their Nature Park located at Ampasit, Longlong, La Trinidad, Benguet-a place that is a picturesque of beauty and grandeur. It shows the ideal production system under tall pine trees. Their coffee production management technologies were shared to farmers with the goal of producing, managing and maintaining the best of Cordillera coffee.

Today, the production activities pass quality assurance procedures that combine organic farming and standardized coffee processing. BSU's coffee research, development and extension (RDE) activities are promoted and disseminated all over the Cordilleras with farmers and their communities participating to grow and manage the perfect coffee blend.

Coffee seeds are sown in small containers until they reach an ideal height prior to transplanting. The seedlings are managed with good water supply, fertilization, and crop protection. Once they are ready for planting, they are transplanted in open spaces under pine trees or spaces with a distance of 1.5 meters x 1.5 meters apart. The distance gives the plant to grow robustly and produce the quality coffee beans until they are harvested.

Coffee plants must be planted in partially shaded areas to ensure that there is balance in the overall climatic and topographic requirements of the plant. Too much sunlight leads the crop to be unproductive; it produces more vegetation than coffee cherries. This condition leads the coffee farmer to employ minimal production management activities. Combining nature's support and farmer's desire and attention to produce the cherries result to quality beans for processing.

Coffee bean processing
Coffee bean processing starts with proper harvesting time. Red colored cherries are harvested manually by trained farmers. On the other hand, noted observations in some cases describe that coffee cherries are harvested by Cordillera wild cats or the so-called Philippine civet cat (Paradoxurus philippinensis) in some remote communities. The civet cat, known in the Cordillera as motit, is one of the fast disappearing species of wild cats that eat coffee cherries and later excrete these as feces that, once cleaned, could be processed as premium quality coffee. This is the reason why government agencies and local communities are into its protection.

Harvested coffee cherries are de-pulped and sun dried. Sun drying eases the process by one-third during roasting time. During the process, one cannot help but smell the aroma. Constant roasting to perfection is the key factor to obtain the best bean product. Once done, the beans are packed as whole beans or grinded. Immediately upon grinding, these are packed in containers to maintain freshness and aromatic scent.

Cordillera coffee passes a whole process of quality perfection to obtain the best coffee ever. To experience the best local coffee, one must be into it to smell and taste what is believed to be Cordillera's pride. Smell it, taste it, and believe it exists.