COFFEE: From Farm to Cup

COFFEE: From Farm to Cup 

Imagine waking up to the smell of coffee and to the sound of songbirds heralding the dawn as the sun stretches its rays across town.  

Can you imagine life without coffee? The irresistible aroma from a fresh cup of coffee in the morning emanating around the house never fails to bring joy into my life. From the first sip down to the last drop of that sticky warmth of coffee on my lips. Ahh, being alive is indeed beautiful.  

 

Unknown to many, I am a certified coffee addict. I love coffee and I feel good when I drink a cup of coffee in the morning.  I get my daily morning caffeine boost every day from Nescafé which is every Filipino's favorite drink since time immemorial. New Nescafé Classic delivers such a rich, flavorful and an irresistible aroma that we love so much. Like you, I enjoyed reading the newspaper and watching my favorite TV program with my morning cup of coffee. 

So you can imagine my happiness when I was chosen by Nescafé ( made by Nestlé) to have a first hand experience to learn the story beyond the cup of every Nescafé coffee.
  

Now, I appreciate my cup of coffee more than ever after our recent visit to the 16-hectare Nestlé Experimental and Development Farm (NEDF) in Barangay Magdum, Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

NEDF also conducts research and studies on inter-cropping to help farmers identify which crops, aside from the coffee shrubs, could yield the most income.

 

I learned from the slide presentation of JP of Nestlé that next to water, coffee is the second most consumed beverage in the world. And it ranks second to oil in terms of value as a world-traded commodity.

Our Davao trip is very educational. It opened my eyes to a whole new perspective. There is so much more to making a cup of coffee than adding hot water. I got to experience coffee literally from farm to cup. 

We got our hands dirty by planting coffee seedlings within the compound of NEDF.

I learned that Nestlé works closely with farmers and coffee farmers cooperatives. It even conducts FREE classroom training to interested individuals, farmers, investors and cooperatives.

Aside from conducting free training, Nestlé supports coffee farmers through its agronomists who visit coffee farms, inspect the coffee growing conditions, give advice to the farmers, conduct research, and propagate coffee seedlings. It also sells the coffee seedlings/ plantlets at cost  Plus, the prices that Nestlé pay to the farmer at its buying stations are based on the world buying price. I can absolutely say that Nescafe (Nestlé) respects people.

Nescafé (Nestlé) has developed the Farm to Cup plan program in order to share information and educate people. When you see the Nescafé label on the coffee jars, you can be assured that the coffee you are buying is completely traceable and of good quality, that Nescafé (Nestlé) paid a fair price for the coffee beans and that you are assured that good farming practices were employed by the coffee farmers.

A cup of Nescafé coffee comes with so much love and labor. Nestlé makes sure that each cup of Nescafe is a product of a quality process that starts from the coffee farming itself.

 

Nescafé prefers to buy Robusta beans which are rounder than the other varieties, brownish in color and produce a tartar and bitter-tasting coffee with a higher level of caffeine. Because of these qualities, the Robusta beans are mostly used in the production of instant coffee and as fillers in commercial blends.

From specialty brews to instant coffee to the now ubiquitous three-in-one sachets, coffee is easily everyone's favorite drink. And with the proliferation of coffee shops, having a cup of coffee has become a total lifestyle experience.

 

The NEDF not only assures Nestle of a supply of quality green coffee beans but is also a training venue for coffee farmers.

Nestle has nine (9) buying stations nationwide located in key coffee-producing regions such as:

• Tagum, Davao del Norte
• General Santos
• Cagayan De Oro Cit
• Silang, Cavite
• Tagbina, Surigao del Sur
• Iloilo City, Iloilo
• Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
• Lipa Batangas
• Tuguegarao City, Cagayan

Nestlé, through the NEDF, is doing its share in helping resurrect the lost glory that the Philippines used to enjoy as the third largest coffee-producing nation next to Brazil and Colombia.