Mabini Ubuan shows off the coffee beans cultivated in Sigay town in Ilocos Sur province. (Photo courtesy of DTI Ilocos Sur/Michael Escobar)
LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte—Ilocos Sur’s locally produced “Robusta” coffee was hailed as the “Best Philippine Original Robusta” coffee for the second time during the Philippine Coffee Quality Competition (PCQC) on March 18, the provincial government said Monday, March 21.
The Robusta coffee entry of Mabini Ubuan from Sigay town garnered a score of 84.41, besting entries from more than 80 growers across the country. Ubuan’s coffee also bagged the top spot in the competition last year.
Robusta is one of the four varieties of coffee cultivated in the Philippines. The others are Arabica, Liberica, and Excelsa.
With its “cold weather,” Sigay is starting to be recognized as the “Coffee Capital of Ilocos Sur.”
Ubuan had made a name for himself after being in the coffee industry for two decades, the provincial government said.
His back-to-back recognition was due to his “hard work and perseverance in maintaining the quality of coffee he is producing,” the provincial government said.
Other coffee farmers from Ilocos Sur, who won in the Robusta coffee category, were Erlinda Dao-Ayan and Juana Bitongan, who won 6th and 9th places, respectively, it said.
Now on its 5th year, the PCQC is an annual event organized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture, Barista and Coffee Academy of Asia, Inc., the Agricultural Cooperative Development International, and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance, and the Philippine Coffee Guild.
These agencies have been pushing to “unite, empower, and nurture the Philippine coffee community through friendly competitions,” such as the PCQC.
They also aim to have the locally produced coffee products “recognized in the global coffee industry” and be open to “more marketing and better pricing opportunities for Philippine coffee farmers.”
Coffee is one of the priority industries in the region as it is grown in the upland towns of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and La Union, according to DTI.
At least 54 percent of the coffee produced in the region is the Robusta type, followed by Arabica at 39 percent, according to the 2021 data from the agency.
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