Coffee making is an art.
Though in our society, we are instilled from an early age that being a doctor brings honor to the family, or taking up law should be the number one goal, and that wearing a suit and finishing marathon meetings in a day is what rakes in cash and therefore an important job to consider for the future.
And artistry is just glorified passion, not a profession. But one man is off to make coffee great in the eyes of the future generation.
“One of our movement is trying to make coffee sexy, making it cool. We want to make the coffee industry standout, the whole coffee chain,” said Michael Harris Conlin, the President and chief executive officer of Henry & Sons during an intimate interview with Manila Standard recently.
The 2019 Philippine National Barista Champion also stressed the importance of alleviating the status of Filipino coffee farmers down to the baristas who are the ”ambassadors of the coffee supply chain,” which includes growing, harvesting, hulling, drying and packing, bulking, blending and roasting until it reaches your cup for that morning brew.
School for Baristas and Coffee farmers
Conlin has made it his life’s work to pursue his passion for coffee and to help make the roles of baristas and coffee farmers more appreciated in the country- part of the reason why Institute for Coffee Excellence was born- launched only in May this year.
He feels that in improving the quality of our coffee we need to educate the farmers who are the foundation of our coffee industry.
The Institute for Coffee Excellence aims to elevate the quality of every coffee experience in the Philippines and focuses on empowering the individuals that play an important part in the country’s coffee chain: the farmers, roasters and baristas. The educational institution offers world-class training standards for the specialty coffee industry. He believes that the transformation of a community begins with education.
“In the case of our coffee community, I believe we would have to start by empowering our farmers and baristas with the knowledge, values and the passion to lift them up and gain a sustainable living,” Harris said.
“We saw that there is a need to educate baristas and coffee farmers that’s why the institute was born. This is to enable them to make a sustainable living,” he added.
The amiable businessman, who competed in the World Barista Championships recently, also shared that their main vision is to work towards coffee security for the Philippines.
“This means that we want to make coffee available for future generations. We try and work towards this,” he said.
Baristas as Ambassadors of the Coffee Industry
“We want baristas to be the rockstars of the coffee industry,” Conlin shares. “Our Filipino baristas are not earning much, they are not valued as much as we’d like them to be.”
Conlin, who has 15 years and counting of coffee making experience, says the role of the barista is to respect the coffee chain, that baristas are representative of the work done before them, all the work done into that one cup of latte.
“Baristas cannot be minimum wage workers, we want them to be more appreciated, we want them to be ambassadors of all that work, representing the farmers, the roasters,” he said.
At the Institute, they try to do all they can to materialize this as the barista training program was actually on its 5th batch of the techno barista class when Manila Standard paid a visit at their two-floor space in Mandaluyong.
“This is two days of intense training, and one day of exams,” explained Conlin as the student baristas were completing their final practical test.
“Our techno barista certification covers the barista skills, how to make good coffee, the sensory skills where people are going to be good at tasting, and explaining the flavor of the coffee. This is important because as more baristas are able to communicate the flavors of coffee, the more consumers will start to appreciate specialty coffee.”
He says that they’ve tried reaching out to TESDA to alleviate their standards in the government agency’s barista training program. “I’ve looked at their program and I see that we can help them uplift the Filipino barista by helping them create baristas that are world class.”
Likewise, Conlin shares that aspiring baristas can come in as a group of ten which then will only pay P500 per head and get the full experience of their barista training programs which are part of the global coffee schools program, where the certificates given to their graduate baristas are accepted all over the world.
Make Coffee Farming Cool
“Aside from making coffee farming cool, by being a farmer you can make enough to make a sustainble living. ‘Pagka farmer, makaktulong tayo sa bansa,” Conlin said.
September 2018 was the time when Typhoon Ompong hit many provinces in the Philippines. It caused widespread damage that in certain places, such as Itogon in Benguet, did not have enough potable water at the time. That was when the Henry & Sons, led by Conlin, made The Giving Well that donated potable drinking water for the people of Itogon.
This kind of initiative led to an idea of replacing the small scale mining of coffee farming which became the starting point of Itogon coffee being a hit.
With the use of Itogon coffee, Conlin participated in the 2019 Philippine National Barista Championship and was declared as the 2019 Philippine National Barista Champion and the first Filipino semi-finalist at the World Barista Championship in Boston, USA where he showcased Filipino coffee.
It was in their vision to see the Philippine Coffee Industry competing against leading coffee-producing countries, because of that, they have established Beans within Reach to introduce Filipino Coffee Farmers to the buyers from different countries.
“Farmers don’t get to see where their produce go or what people do with it, now buyers can see na may coffee naman pala sa Pilipinas”, Conlin said.
According to Michael Harris Conlin of Henry & Sons, he wants to break to the stigma that being a farmer does not always mean being poor, hence, it can be a cool job. Farming can also be a big help to our country in making a sustainable living.
“Being a farmer doesn't mean you have to be poor, farmers in other countries are rich. dito lang parang kulang.” He said.
Overall, the institution’s vision is to become a powerful instrument in building a fully-sustainable coffee economy in the Philippines with the help of the farmers, roasters, baristas and Filipino consumers. with Jed Flores and Veronica Sondon
All photos by Peter Paul Duran