Patronize locally grown coffee

I've been able to score good coffee in Soccsksargen. In Koronadal alone, where business is booming, cafés have opened, some of them owned by people from my childhood! In fact, a new coffee shop has opened near the house, and that's where I plan to spend most afternoons as I study for my diplomate exam. The espresso is good, the airconditioning is sufficient, and the place is quiet but gets a bit crowded in the evenings. I bring earphones just in case it gets noisy, and I plan to go home early anyway.



At home my kid brother Sean has a steady supply of Kulaman coffee. The flavors are rich, a little nutty, with hardly any acidity. He gets it from a person he knows at a discount, likely one of his patients.

Last week an aunt gave me Mt. Matutum coffee (Greentropics), which is slightly acidic, less nutty, and stimulating: it keeps my mind from getting headaches in the morning.

Greentropics is a local company that trades, processes and markets coffee sustainably harvested by the B’laan tribe, an indigenous peoples (IP) group living in the slopes of Mt. Matutum in South Cotabato.

More on Agricultural engineer Fred Fredeluces here, and the efforts he's put up to further the coffee industry in the region.

Clearly the coffee industry is growing in Mindanao.

Coffee is mainly grown in Mindanao with the island producing some 71 percent of the country’s total production volume. Sultan Kudarat is Mindanao’s number one source of coffee, having 15,500 hectares devoted to production of the crop.

Maybe it's just me, but as a coffee drinker I patronize local coffee shops more. I only order basic coffee: an espresso if I feel sleepy or an americano if I have the time for a leisurely sip. I like the bitterness. The prices are reasonable. It helps that I'm not the biggest fan of Starbucks, whose coffee tastes burnt. I still like the smell of a Starbucks store, which floods my memory with friends, good conversation, and reviewing for my board exams.