Philippine Belinda Besto

Flavor Notes: Peanut Butter Cup, Cream Soda, Nutmeg

The #2 lot from the Philippine Coffee Auction.

A series of 9 lots we purchased from the 2022 Philippine Coffee Auction! We are always looking to highlight Philippine coffee and have almost exclusively bought all of our coffee through Kalsada. In 2022, we faced the challenge of low harvest yields by the farmers we have traditionally worked with so we sought other mediums and new producers to help us on our mission. Having previously cupped coffee from the Philippine Coffee Quality Competition (PCQC) at the Coffee Expo in April of 2022, while simultaneously winning the US Roaster Championship, we tasted some fantastic lots of coffee. We worked with Kalsada to come up with a plan to buy the coffee from the PCQC. In fact, we originally went into the auction with the goal of buying ALL the coffee, and setting record prices for farmers in the process. During the bidding, we went back and forth over the 12 lots and came across 2 stiff competitors who did not want to back down. We continued to bid and drive the price up on all auction lots but eventually refocused our efforts on these 9 lots. Collectively, we drove the #1 lot up to a stunning $75/kg, at which point we yielded to our friends at Teofilo after blowing out the previous auction record price.

These 9 lots come from various farmers in Bukidnon and Davao del sur and serve as an excellent reminder that great coffee is being grown all over the Philippines. Help us shine a light on underrepresented regions and put Philippine coffee on the map, all while enjoying a supremely excellent cup of coffee.