BARISTAS and coffee enthusiasts converged in the Pine City as Latte Art Throwdown champion Leandro Lamis bested close to 30 baristas in last week’s Baristas Quest: Latte Art Throwdown.
Baristas and artists joined the event and created designs using milk at the Coffee + Art: Latte Showdown held at Halfroom Coffee in Baguio City.
Baristas Quest is a month long campaign of competitions created to empower and promote camaraderie amongst Filipino baristas and coffee enthusiasts, and to showcase skills in making coffee. The first leg of the competition took place in Davao and the final one will be held in Cebu City.
Baguio leg judges were Michael Harris Conlin, president and CEO of Henry and Sons Trading and Manufacturing Company Inc., Bernard Euclid Bueno, owner of Halfroom Coffee and Jay-Ar Manago, latte art champion of the Allegro 5th Latte Art in Wofex World Trade.
Lim, is also the 2019 Philippine Barista champion and the 2019 World Barista Championship semi–finalist, led the Barista’s Quest Campaign said “A barista is somebody who is able to communicate and translate all the hard work of the farmer to the best of their abilities, to draw all the potential out of that coffee and put it into that cup. It has to be the sweetest possible cup with a balanced acidity and bitterness and a little bit of sourness just for brightness. A barista must make people feel good.”
Lim uses coffee from Itogon, Benguet which he dubs as his favorite for its flavor and special processing method.
“We control what kind of yeast was being used in the processing method and drew out flavors from the coffee.”
Lim said, last year, there were five tons of Itogon coffee used in eight experimental processes by Henry and Sons to perfect the blend.
“We are very happy with the turn out; it’s going to Doha, Hong Kong and other countries.”
For the final leg of the Barista Quest, individuals who can extract rich coffee flavors into a cup may register for the Kettle+Cup: Coffee Brewing Challenge that is set to happen at Tightrope Coffee in Cebu City on July 25.
Registration is free, interested participants may register at bit.ly/barista.quest-cebu.
The champions of these competitions will get a chance to represent his or her region by getting a competitor sponsorship package for the National Cofeee Chamoionship, a travel allowance and accommodation to the Philippine National Barista Assembly happening this September 20 at the SMX Convention Center Aura and a Commander Grinder.
The Foundation for Sustainable Coffee Excellence also by Henry & Sons, hope to elevate and create a sustainable local coffee farming industry by addressing the five major issues that coffee farmers face.
Five major issues are; access to clean and potable water, access to education, access to health necessities and immunizations to prevent infectious diseases, access to local and global traders and coffee buyers and access to additional income during the downtime between planting and harvesting of coffee beans.
FSCE hopes to provide substantial development to the local coffee farming industry by addressing the five major issues that coffee farmers face.
FSCE will also be provides assistance to local coffee farmers to improve their practices, including proper harvesting, post harvesting procedures and proper dying techniques - ensuring improved quantity and quality.