Barako Coffee Hits Top Note In Philippine Food And Coffee Festival

The world-famous Barako coffee highlights "Flavors of the Philippines," a Philippine Food and Coffee Festival on June 11, 2004 at The Brasserie, 39/F, Splendor Hotel, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A mini-exhibition on June 11 to 13 at The Court, adjacent to The Brasserie, promises a sampling of Philippine coffeee, amidst the showcase of trade, tourism, and employment services exhibitors.

Visitors and guests to the festival will be welcomed by the strong, pungent aroma of freshly-brewed Barako coffee upon entering the hotel's lobby and restaurants. Barako coffee, along with other coffee varieties, will be featured in various coffee brews and concoctions that will surely delight and conquer the senses. The Coffee Festival offers a fitting accompaniment to the savory flavors of Filipino cuisine, and it also serves as a venue to showcase the country's efforts to regain its niche on the global coffee marketplace.

Behind the Barako label, which is the flagship coffee variety of the Philippines, there lies the rich history of Philippine coffee, which is as flavorful and robust as the coffee brew itself.

A Brief History of Coffee in the Philippines

With the colonization of the Philippines by the Spaniards more than two centuries ago, they brought with them coffee, which they planted into the country's highlands, turning them into coffee plantations. The perfect mix of heat, humidity, and cold, plus the two-season (wet and dry) tropical climate, made the cultivation of coffee thrive in the Philippines.

Coffee growing became so profitable for the country that the Philippines became the fourth largest coffee-producing nation in the 19th century. At that time, the country was exporting more than US$150 million worth of coffee worldwide. Coffee enjoyed immense popularity as the crop of choice but the euphoria was cut short by "Coffee Rust," a blight or infestation, which virtually wiped out the Philippine coffee industry. Unable to keep up with worldwide demand, Latin American countries eventually took over, and have since retained their stronghold on the global coffee market.

As the Philippines faces stiff global competition today, reviving the Philippine coffee industry has been an uphill battle ever since. Dedicated farmers, processes, distributors, and exporters recognize the surging demand for coffee worldwide. With so many coffee varieties, and exciting coffee concoctions, the appeal of coffee transcend borders and nationalities. Reinventing the Barako has never been more timely and more opportune.

Getting the Philippines Back on The Global Coffee Map Barako coffee is the generic name for all coffee from Batangas, a province located in southern Luzon. But real Barako is actually Philippine Liberica and is known for its particularly strong taste, powerful body, and a distinctly pungent odor. It was named after a wild boar, called "barako," which regularly feasts on the plant's leaves and berries.

Barako is the only indigenously Philippine bean, which thrive in the country's tropical climate with relatively abundant rainfall and gentle winds. In fact, Barako (or Liberica), is a rare and exotic variety as it grows in only 3 of the 70 coffee-producing countries around the world. While many think that Barako is a non-commercial variety, its superb taste and rarity, however, would surely make an impact in the competitive coffee arena. Sadly, the Barako is on its way to extinction, as more and more coffee farmers are switching to other plant crops, or have sold off their coffee farms.

"Save the Barako," is one of battlecries of the Figaro Foundation Corporation, which was established to boost production and provide aid to the country's last remaining coffee growers. True enough, with a continuing communications campaign that involve awareness programs, special events, new plantings, research, and marketing of the said variety, great inroads have been made in order to pull the Barako out of the brink of extinction, in just four short years. The launch of the "Barako Blend," helped fund this project and continues to support an ongoing information campaign.

The Figaro Foundation has been at the forefront of helping the local coffee industry, and putting the country back on the map of the world's top coffee producing nations. Its initial efforts were geared towards raising public awareness about the state and potential of the domestic coffee industry. It has successfully pioneered in helping the Barako recover from the verge of extinction, and is doing currently working with both government and non-government entities to help revitalize the Philippines' coffee industry.

Figaro Foundation is working very closely with the Philippine National Coffee Development Board (PNCDB). The PNCDB is an industry association dedicated to developing and promoting the Philippine Coffee Industry by providing research, technical assistance, and credit programs for development, expansion, rehabilitation, and rejuvenation of coffee farms, millers and roasters; and marketing and promotion of coffee for domestic and export markets.

As part of its efforts to tap the Taiwanese export market, Figaro Coffee Company has partnered with the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) Trade and Investment Center, and the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry. Witness and celebrate the launch of the Barako blend at the Philippines' Coffee Festival at "Flavors of the Philippines," Kaohsiung.

http://www.citem.com.ph/print_newsarchive7.asp?ID=10