30 SEPTEMBER 2019 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM
THE EXPERIENCE
Café de Lipa GF, Market!
Market! Mall, McKinley
Parkway, Taguig;
63-43/756-1716;
cafedelipa.ph/.
18 Days Coffee Solenad
3 Ayala Malls, Nuvali
Boulevard; Sta. Rosa,
Laguna 4026; 63-
917/882-7672; https://
botecentral.com.Kaffe Belardo Amadeo-
Loma Boundary, Crisanto
M. De Los Reyes Avenue,
Amadeo, 4119 Cavite;
63-46/483-0670.
KapeTayo Coffee 2F, U.P.
Town Center, Katipunan
Ave, Diliman, Quezon
City; 63-2/949-0212;
kapetayo.com.WHERE TO TRY KAPENG BARAKO:
Kenya, Ethiopia or Java are the stars of
Western-style espresso bars, local barako—
sun-dried on the front porch, milled by hand
and roasted on a wok—is often the humble
beverage served in the homes of common folk.
In fact, I’ve learned to love its full-bodied,
caramel taste and surprisingly fruity notes.
Despite its long history in the Philippines,
coffea liberica remains largely neglected by
major players in the local industry. But Vie
Reyes of the Philippine Coffee Alliance aims to
spread the word. “It’s unfortunate that the
coffee drinking public isn’t fully aware of how
good our liberica can be,” she says. “We are still
in the stage of ‘rediscovering’ Philippine
liberica, both for the farmers and drinkers.”
There’s hope for the future. Barely a decade
ago it was difficult to find a consistent supply of
good liberica coffee, but these days they’re a
standard offering in a precious handful of spots
around Manila. Among these are Café de Lipa
a nd 18 Days Coffee, as wel l as KapeTayo Coffee,
which boasts a “delightfully not subtle” barako
laced with coffee liqueur, alongside a more
traditional pour-over version. Further south in
t he tow n of A madeo t here’s a lso Ka ffe Bela rdo,
which serves its tasty, medium dark-roasted
kapeng barako not far from my farm.
As for my own contribution to the local
coffee scene, I left the roasting facility with an
amusing problem: without any buyers or
outlets, what was I to do with our initial supply
of freshly roasted coffea liberica? Well, I ended
up doing what any net-savvy seller would do in
this day and age: try to sell it on Facebook. I
posted on my wall and on online forums, and I
e-ma i led fr iends. To my sur pr ise, people
responded. In spite, or perhaps because, of the
proliferation of cafés both high-brow and mom-
and-pop serving the usual lattes, Filipinos still
hankered for the taste of old-school kapeng
barako. I sold all of it in a week.CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Kaffe Belardo
in Amadeo; liberica seedlings at the
writer’s farm; winnowing dried beans
from husks; cooking coffee in a wok.