ROBUSTA coffee beans grown by farmer-members of two associations in Negros Occidental are among the eight entries from Western Visayas graded as fine and premium during the recent 2021 Philippine Coffee Quality Competition (PCQC).
They are Carmen Gonzales of Carmen's Brew and Tongo Integrated Farmers Association and Teddy Cañate of Minoyan Murcia Marginal Coffee Association in Himamaylan City and Murcia town, respectively.
Gonzales and Cañate's entries were graded as "fine robusta" as their green coffee beans have zero primary defects and have no over five secondary defects sample.
The other coffee bean entries are from Sibalom, Antique; and Calinog, Igbaras, Lambunao and Barotac Viejo in Iloilo province.
Antique's entry leveled-up to fine grade this year. It was graded premium in 2020.
Igbaras entry, on the other hand, was graded "premium robusta" as its bean samples have no more than eight combined primary and secondary defects samples.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Western Visayas, in its Facebook page, said the PCQC is an annual convergence activity of government agencies and the private sector that seeks to identify the best specialty coffees in the Philippines.
It aims to motivate producers to improve their coffee quality and market access as these coffees are made known to specialty buyers.
Western Visayas' coffee industry could now start to create its brand, the regional line agency said.
In this year's edition of PCQC, over 100 entries were submitted, graded and cupped simultaneously by Philippine-based licensed quality graders in Davao City and Manila.
The final cupping of top entries was done by internationally-acclaimed judges from the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan.
Each participant submitted three one-kilogram sample packs of coffee beans to the Barista and Coffee Academy of Asia Inc. (BCAA) in Manila through the DTI for green grading, roasting and cupping eliminations.
Grading involves relationship between the amount of defective coffee beans and the overall cup quality.
Coffee is graded by sorting the hulled green beans over screens with different sized holes.
The beans remaining in each screen are then weighed, and the percentage of the total is recorded.
Following this, the coffee is roasted and cupped in order to evaluate the characteristics.
For her part, DTI-Western Visayas Regional Director Rebecca Rason said "we encourage our coffee stakeholders and enthusiasts to take advantage of these opportunities and focus on the potentials of the coffee industry."
The PCQC is a convergence of the DTI, BCAA, and Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance.
It also aims to place the country's coffee production in the global coffee industry, provide awareness on the importance of coffee quality and make the Philippine specialty coffee known in the global market thereby opening more selling and pricing opportunities to local coffee farmers. (With reports from DTI-Western Visayas)