Perk-fect coffee

Alexander "Alex" Lichaytoo, president of Bacchus International, makes a living out of providing people with the drink that makes them happy. He named his business after Bacchus, the god of the good life and son of the goddess Aphrodite.

Alex brought in fine wines to the Philippines, most notable of which is Petrus, former President Joseph Estrada’s favorite. The cost of a bottle of Petrus, depending on the year, ranges from P40,000 to P100,000. Lichaytoo admits the short-lived Erap years boosted sales of Petrus, but the good news is sales did not dip even after Joseph Estrada left Malacañang. (There is this anecdote that after EDSA II, some people searched Malacañang for "skeletons" in Erap’s closet – including leftover bottles of Petrus – to pin him down for his extravagance, perhaps? But there weren’t any, leading people to speculate that a. He didn’t really drink a lot of Petrus or b. He finished all of his stock.)

"It used to be," said Alex, "that business deals were closed over a game of golf. Nowadays, it’s over a bottle of red wine. I think that it’s the 21st century’s ‘power drink’."

"The happiest people are wine drinkers," swears Alex over lunch (roast lamb with a hint of coffee in its sauce) at Pepato, Gaita Fores’ Italian restaurant at Greenbelt 2. "But the people who are most alive are the coffee drinkers."

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I’ll certainly drink to that. The day I am able to give up coffee for Lent is the day I turn into a Mother Teresa. Hard to give up, coffee.

"As soon as coffee is in your stomach, there is a general commotion. Ideas begin to move... similes arise, the paper is covered," said the Honore de Balzac in the 18th century. "Coffee is your ally and writing ceases to be a struggle."

Coffee is the only thing black that makes my day bright. A Time magazine article on health said coffee was not as bad as we thought it was, as long as not consumed in excess.

At Pepato, Alex and his brother Clifford gave a name to the coffee most of us have been drinking in restaurants and hotel outlets we have been frequenting – Lavazza, one of the most acclaimed coffee brands in the world. It is the leading brand in Italy and France.

"If an Italian coffee brand is the leading brand in France," exclaims Alex, "it really must be good."

Lavazza, according to Alex, is also the leading brand in England, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Spain, among others.

The beans are grown outside Italy, but they are processed and roasted there. Lavazza is so popular it produces over 3,000 tons of coffee annually. To give you an idea of how much coffee that is, a 40-foot container truck can take 10 tons of coffee beans. (Alex himself takes about eight cups a day).

Alex and Clifford decided to import Lavazza to give the Philippines the real "Italian" coffee experience. But they have no plans of opening a Lavazza coffee shop anywhere in the Philippines, preferring to make coffee part of the total dining experience. Among the restaurants that serve Lavazza are Milky Way and El Cirkulo (Malu Gamboa says the Lavazza decaf blend is very popular among those who want a nightcap), Dish, Via Mare Oyster Bar, Shangri-La Makati and Mactan, the Tower Club, TGI Friday’s, among others. Lavazza is also available in leading supermarkets.

Alex says that the Philippines is one of the two Southeast Asian countries that prefer coffee to tea (the other being Indonesia).

Well, Pinoys are certainly one of the perkiest people this side of the planet.

Or do Pinoys love coffee because it is the ultimate comfort drink? As Alexander King said, "Actually, this seems to be the basic need of the human heart in nearly every great crisis – a good hot cup of coffee."

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On this spread are some photos from the Lavazza calendar. Lavazza has been producing the very collectible calendars since the early ’90s. Helmut Newton, Ellen Von Unwerth, Albert Watson and Jean Baptiste Mondino are among the photographers that have worked on the prized calendars.

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