Igorot discovers instant way to enjoy brewed coffee

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20080405-128628/Igorot-discovers-instant-way-to-enjoy-brewed-coffee

Igorot discovers instant way to enjoy brewed coffee

By Maurice Malanes Northern Luzon Bureau

Posted date: April 05, 2008

BAGUIO CITY—A budding Igorot entrepreneur has found out that a revolutionary business idea comes in unexpected places. The challenge was translating the idea—a novel way for consumers to enjoy instant brewed coffee—into a profitable venture. During a break while exhibiting antique crafts at the World Trade Center in Manila in 2005, Peter Yangki (not his real name), a former antique craft trader, and a British client, took time out to sip coffee at the center’s cafe. Yangki saw that the coffee the waiter served them came from a reheated brew. He complained and told the waiter that ground coffee should not be reused and reheated. After an argument with the waiter, Yangki chose not to order coffee. The client settled for instant tea. As the Briton squeezed with a spoon his tea in filter bag in a cup with hot water, Yangki toyed with an idea and told him: If we can put tea leaves in a bag and we can have instant tea, why can’t we do the same with coffee? “That’s a revolutionary multimillion-peso business idea,” the Briton replied. “If you have coffee in your place, you can venture into that.” Buoyed by the Briton’s affirmation, Yangki thought hard about it and in no time embarked on what he said was quite an expensive trial-and-error experiment. The experiment paid off, and he went on to become the first Filipino to ever produce pure organic Arabica coffee in a tea bag. For the experiment, he availed of a P300,000 loan from the Department of Agriculture Young Farmers’ Program. He also rented coffee processing machines and packaging equipment of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for his experiment until he perfected packaging pure Arabica coffee in bags for an instant brew. Arabica, which grows well in high elevations such as the Cordillera, is the world’s most sought after coffee variety because of its distinct aroma and antioxidant qualities. As he was experimenting on and perfecting his product, Yangki, in 2005, established Cordillera Blend, his company based in Tuba, Benguet. He perfected his product in 2006 and registered it with the DOST and with the Intellectual Property Office in 2007. He also registered his product with the Bureau of Food and Drugs and is awaiting the bureau’s approval. He has begun marketing the product with the brand name Hagiyo! Brew. Yangki, who asked the Inquirer not to publish his real name, preferred that his product’s name be known rather than his identity. The brand name was derived from an Ifugao greeting, which means, Have a happy, long life! So what’s new with Hagiyo! Brew? It’s instant, but not the kind one dissolves in hot water. It’s instant but it is brewed coffee. Instant soluble coffee has undergone many processes and has a lot of what are called emulsifiers and artificial flavors. But Hagiyo! Brew instant coffee in filter bags comes from specially ground and minimally processed Arabica coffee without artificial flavors and preservatives, says Yangki. Yangki also takes pride in having sourced his raw coffee beans from naturally or organically grown Arabica coffee plants from Benguet, Mt. Province, Ifugao and Kalinga. The budding entrepreneur knows that freshly ground coffee must be packed and sealed at once to retain its delicate flavor and antioxidant qualities. Two coffee bags, each measuring five grams, are packed in an easy-to-reseal cellophane packet, before these are packed into a sealed foil sachet. Why two coffee bags in a sachet? There are moderate and heavy coffee drinkers,” says Yangki. A coffee bag is enough for moderate drinkers, but heavy coffee drinkers can use two in one cup. Local coffee connoisseurs, who sampled his product, swear the brewed coffee in bags could compare with that brewed in a percolator. Goodbye percolator And those who love brewed coffee need not invest in a percolator or a coffeemaker. They can simply pour hot water in a mug with a five-gram or 10-gram ground coffee in a filter bag, sweeten it with muscovado (unrefined sugar) or honey, and, as an added option, mix it with nondairy creamer. Hagiyo! Brew’s instant brewed coffee comes in two packages—one comes with a separately packed sachet of five-gram muscovado (unrefined sugar) and another separately packed nondairy cream. The other package has five grams of honey in a sachet instead of muscovado. The muscovado is sourced from Abra and the honey comes from an aviary of the Saint Louis University. The product is packaged with a strong pride of place, not only of Yangki’s home region of the Cordillera, but of his country. Inscribed in the box containing a dozen of sachets of the product is the text, “proudly Philippine-made organic brewed coffee for the world to taste.” Above it is an image of the Philippine flag. The product is also labeled as a super premium native brewed coffee brand of the Philippines. Brewing do’s and don’t’s Also included in the packaging are the three do’s and don’ts of coffee brewing. One, coffee should not be boiled, as boiled coffee tastes bitter. There is no need to boil roasted coffee beans as it is enough to extract an excellent brew from a cup with hot water. Two, coffee should not be reused. Three, coffee should not be reheated or continuously heated. Reusing, reheating and continuously heating brewed coffee would destroy the coffee’s volatile antioxidant properties. Continuously heating or boiling also gives a sour and flavorless brew. That insight during that morning coffee break when Yangki was disappointed not being served freshly brewed coffee became a turning point in his life as an entrepreneur. At that time he was doing quite good in trading antique craft and distinct furniture made of roots and vines. Business shift But this type of business relies heavily on the availability of forest products, which are already being depleted, he says. As early as 2005, he predicted that the antique craft and furniture would become a sunset industry. He also had a traumatic experience when he was trading antique craft and furniture. He was held up while transporting some items in Aurora. But the budding entrepreneur, a commerce graduate in his 30s, vows to follow in the footsteps of Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs who prefer to remain low-key while continuously making innovations for a better competitive edge in an industry still dominated by big players. It’s time we Igorots learn to become employers, not just employees knocking at the doors of already established companies, he said.