COFFEE lovers and enthusiasts have gathered on Friday, September 21, as SM Downtown Premier started the anticipated week-long coffee-centric festival, celebrating Cagayan de Oro's bustling coffee scene.
The coffee festival does not only cater to coffee-holics but also serves as a venue for local coffee farmers, the partner farmers of the participating purveyors, to market their products through the Pop Up Coffee Fair located in the mall's Sky Park at the fifth floor.
"Our tenants serve as outlets that are serving the partner farmers. It’s actually not just for the shoppers, but it’s really a celebration of how coffee is made and how this has helped our local farmers," Evangeline Ditona, mall manager of SM Downtown Premier, said.
"Because the demand is high and each town features their own coffee, regardless if it’s the same beans but how they prepared it, is really something that shines when they sell the coffee," she added.
Participating purveyors in the coffee festival, which will span from September 21 to 30, include: Apostrophe: Food, Drinks & Coffee, Bean Voyage Coffee Co., Bowerbird Coffee PH, Double Bubble Cafe, KAPE Maramag, Cinnabon, Hario, Humble Press Specialty Coffee, Hanabel's Bakery & Cafe, Honeymoo CDO, Tokyo Bubble Tea, Tableya ni Mommy Sha, and among others.
"Not all of them are tenants here but they are local coffee enthusiasts that really composed the crowd of coffee lovers. So they feature their own mixes, their own way of making the coffee. Its all available here in one place," Ditona said.
Ditona, who is also a coffee drinker, has expressed appreciation to coffee, saying that unlike beer, coffee can be drank anytime of the day and in any mood she wants.
"The nice thing about coffee is that, you cannot drink it like water. It slows your pace, it makes you relax," the mall manager said.
"And it’s really a very nice experience even if you are alone. Coffee is something very personal and even you can choose your beans, you can have it in the shop where it is prepared different," she added.
Apart from its coffee fair, SM Downtown also has other activities for the coffee festival such as the Poetry Night: "Fragile Things" on September 22 and Mommy Mundo: a Mindful Mom session on September 29.
On September 30, local coffee artisans will compete in coffee latte art and brewing competition called Coffee + Art. Live performances from local acoustic and indie acts, Coffee x Music, will also happen on the same day.
"Simple joys that we enjoy everyday, we always celebrate it here at SM. So we always find means to understand how our shoppers enjoy and we create that place here so that they can come and join us and celebrate. We always make festivals out of simple things that we enjoy everyday," Ditona said.