Coffee growing in Atok, Benguet: From backyards to global market

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The uphill jeepney ride to the coffee-growing town (1,700 meters above sea level), on rocky, dusty and unpaved roads could be daunting. The panorama of a mountain range partly veiled by clouds, with sun rays slicing through, is indeed a sight to behold.  But Atok's terrain is harsh and unforgiving to clueless newcomers and holiday tourists.

The uphill jeepney ride to the coffee-growing town , on rocky, dusty and unpaved roads could be daunting. The panorama of a mountain range partly veiled by clouds, with sun rays slicing through, is indeed a sight to behold. But Atok's terrain is harsh and unforgiving to clueless newcomers and holiday tourists.The Kalsada website describes Domine as a coffee professional, a trained and licensed Q grader.

Coffee growing has become just as important for Atok families in the past 10 years after the arrival of the Kalsada Company with its pioneering goal of creating Philippine specialty coffee and selling roasted beans and later, just the greens to mainstream markets, here and abroad. Kalsada's farm workers are now being paid more than the minimum wage, according to Domine. Farmers' roasted coffee beans and later just the greens, are being sold at premium prices or higher than the average farmgate prices in the market, she said.

Take it from founder Laurino, a Filipino-American who grew up in Seattle. When she founded Kalsada in 2014, she had just been inspired by a historical photograph of Filipino Barako coffee being sold in Pike Place Market in 1909. It piqued her curiosity about her cultural roots and sparked her desire to reconnect with the Philippines. She saw a way to do it by founding a coffee beans supply business for specialty coffee shops together with Lacy Audry and Domine.

 

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