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| Civet Cat droppings freshly-picked from the trail |
The trail to a cup of good coffee is not always a paved one -- our hike through the forest of Malarayat takes us through the brush with scenic views of Mt. Susong Dalaga. Apart from some muddy parts, the hike was uneventful but come the rainy season, one can only imagine how slippery the trail can become. This isn't a reality TV show, folks, rather it's the Alamid Cafe Xpress Coffee Tour. An exposure trip for us media people, it seems more of an immersion experience on the coffee culture.
Going the extra mile for coffee. To begin with, venturing to Malarayat in Batangas for a cup of coffee may seem to be too much of a stretch but a coffee fanatic like me will go to great lengths to to get a stab on fresh civet cat brew. I've always known civet cat coffee to come from Mt. Matutum in Mindanao but only recently realized the cats thrive in the mountains of Batangas. We get our freshly-ground, freshly-prepared cup of the sought-after brew at the end of our tour but first, we have to earn it.
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| Hikers on the search for Civet Cat Coffee take to Mt. Malarayat |
Life-changing brew. The Alamid Coffee Tour is part-hike, part-engagement as it gave us the opportunity to meet the people whose lives were literally changed by coffee.
Aling Lucy and her husband are part of a seven member-brood who pick civet cat droppings for a living. Five years ago, Aling Lucy confesses to a disdain for the droppings, avoiding them on the trail like these were ordinary animal wastes. Today, it has enabled her to buy a lot, purchase things for her house and send her children to school. Picking civet cat droppings may be lucrative business but it's hard work scouring the mountainous terrain inhabited by snakes. Still, it is a profitable venture with Alamid Coffee offering the pickers good prices and most importantly, know-how.
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| Precious pods - Civet Cat droppings are cleaned well |
At the end of the tour, we also dropped by Brgy. Sto. Niño where Alamid Coffee has helped the cooperative touch bases with a Swiss bank which provided the the MACOFA (Malarayat Coffee Farmers and Consumer Cooperative) a grant to acquire its own coffee roasting, grinding and packing facilities, helping its over 60 members get better prices for their coffee products.
Alamid Cafe Xpress is located at the R.O.X. (Recreational Outdoor Exchange) in Bonifacio Highstreet, Taguig City. For more info, visit www.alamidcafexpress.com
3 comments:
Oggie i am very familiar with that, as since we were kids our father already told us about what that something is, but just learned of its value in the last few years. Now our coffee plants are already very few and maybe some of the 'alamid or musang' already migrated looking for greener pastures. So i also experimented finding them and went into the process of tasting the final brew! Even during grinding 'pa lang ang sarap na ng aroma'! Kaya lang i am not sure if it's coz of the difficultry of the preparation or really the true taste which made is taste so special.
But do you know there are already enterprising entrepreneurs who are breeding alamid in captivity and feed them coffee berries. That way getting the processed berries from their stomachs is not anymore difficult. I saw the lady interviewed on TV and admitted they have more than 10 alamid, some about to be born and production still going on! Ako sa tagal ko na sa amin, hindi pa ako nakakita ng alamid na gumagala, sa zoo pa rin ako nakakita! But i am very familiar with their processed coffee berries.
Hi Nids. Wala kayang effect sa feeding and behavior when the alamid is reared in captivity? Nocturnal daw yung mga animals so I wonder how it would work out if they're force-fed.
The Alamid Coffee Tour is part hike, part engagement as it gave us the opportunity to meet the people whose lives were literally changed by coffee.>>> very interesting bai. i hope that we get to see more of these stories.
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