Coffee Time

There’s more to the brew than the tantalizing aroma and a caffeine fix. The Philippine coffee industry has embarked on a major effort to rejuvenate the industry, and is inviting all coffee lovers to join the effort.

Mark your days this year with the National Coffee Development Board’s (NCDB) handsome calendar called The Coffee Trail. The calendar focuses on the entire process of Philippine coffee production, with lovely photographs and explanatory text that tell the story of the world’s favorite brew.

It all starts with a little white flower that blooms for only two days and the little green berry that takes its place on the branch of the coffee tree. The berry, on the other hand, takes its time to ripen: anywhere from six to nine months. When the beans are finally harvested, there is the sorting process, a relatively primitive–compared to advances in the rest of the coffee process–and communal endeavor.

Then there is a ritualistic process of selection, where the fate of a particular harvest is decided by expert "cuppers". Taste, aroma, flavor, character are carefully considered, the beans are graded to determine whether they will be sent to thrill discriminating palates in the world’s finest cafes or consigned to ignominy as ordinary cups of a mortal brew.

There are supposedly 900 different coffee aromas, and the days of simply deciding whether to take your coffee black or with milk and sugar are long gone. Coffee today is a lifestyle, almost a culture unto itself, and the decision to have a cup can be daunting.

First the kind of coffee: arabica, robusta, liberica, excelsa, barako, Blue Mountain, Jamaican and as many blends as coffee houses can come up with. Then the preparation: hot, cold, espresso, latte, capuccino, frothe, with chocolate.... The varieties are dizzying!

If you have a cup of coffee a day, you can mark your daily brew on the squares of this delightful calendar. And you’ll do so knowing you are helping the Philippine coffee industry, since proceeds from the sale of the calendar go to the NCDB’s support programs for Philippine coffee farmers.

If the calendar leaves you wanting more coffee, run over to your favorite bookstore and grab a copy of Kape: The Philippine Coffee Cookbook (Anvil Publishing). Authored by Figaro Coffee’s Chit Juan (who also heads the NCDB) and clothing designer turned author Vicky Veloso-Barrera, the handy little book is chockful of interesting coffee facts, trivia you can impress people with over cups of latte or espresso. And tell them too that you support the "Save the Barako" campaign, which is the beneficiary of the sale of the book.

The book actually gives detailed recipes on how to make 16 different types of coffee drinks, from simple brewed coffee to espresso con panna. And better yet, there are over 60 recipes of food that go perfectly with coffee, or even–dare I say it?–on their own, without coffee. I’m raring to try the Oreo Polvoron and the Mango Tarte Tatin–and yes, I’m going to have a cuppa, too!

* * *

To order The Coffee Trail calendar (top), contact the National Coffee Development Board at tel. 751-1142/43. Kape: The Philippine Coffee Cookbook (left) is available at bookstores nationwide, or call tel. 813-5836.