Another more significant definition is that specialty coffees have traceable value chains. There is an unrestricted flow of information among farmers, traders, roasters, café owners, and consumers, so that both the coffee and the lives that it supports continue to improve.
]]>November 15 marked three years since The Dream Coffee came into existence. Often, I am asked what made me personally want to create this enterprise and always, I say—it’s the farmers we work with.
The first time we met in early 2018, I knew that there was no turning back. Para sa kape. Para sa tribo. Para sa magsasaka. In coffee and in each other, we found a sense of calling.
All of this, really, is a story of a chances. At the heart of it is our farmer-partners who gave us a chance to show them that their own coffee can change their lives.
Along the way, crucial industry partners helped us develop T’Boli arabica—NGOs, non-profits, and government agencies; our partner roaster and retail partners; writers and content creators who used their platforms to talk about the roots and fruits of our advocacy; and you.
You who gave this coffee a chance and took the time to tell someone about it. You’ve invited us to your meetings and mornings, your late nights and far-away trips, your losses and celebrations. If our coffee has, in a quiet way, been a part of your life—know that your support has significantly changed someone else’s, too.
It is only through this collective effort that we’re able to grow. Today, we’re happy to share what we were able to do together over the past three years.
The vision we wrote when we began still remains—
we believe in waking up to live our dreams
always enduring until the day
everyone gets to live theirs
Larissa Joson
Founder, The Dream Coffee
We wanted The Drip to have a color palette that's similar with our signature red bags, and of course, to pay homage to the indigenous farmers behind the coffee. That led us to creating this beautiful texture.
"The design of the packaging draws from the textures and patterns of woven fabric," says Mikko Serrano, the creative behind The Drip's packaging. "It also takes into account the name of the The Dream Coffee."
To get to the finished product, here are some of the things we came across during our creative exploration.
The result is a bag that's "textured and lucid," shares Mikko. "We believe that it captures the idea of life converging with our dreams, right in front of our eyes."
]]>We're back to serve the rest of the Philippines!
If you're outside Metro Manila, check out the image below to know how to get The Dream Coffee to your home. Please note that in order to reduce contact as one of our safety precautions, we will only be accepting cashless payments via PayPal, BDO Online, and GCash. Get started by ordering here.
Ordering within Metro Manila? Take a look at our transaction process.
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Whether you're a mom yourself or you're celebrating the moms in your life, we want to wish you love-filled Mother's Day, dreamer.
]]>Thank you for your patience, Dreamer.
Check out the image below to know how to get The Dream Coffee to your home. Please note that in order to reduce contact as one of our safety precautions, we will only be accepting cashless payments and limiting the coffee we deliver per day to five (5) orders. Get started by ordering here.
]]>Something for your headspace—a Spotify playlist to keep you company while you #StayAtHome.
Life in Color - OneRepublic
Spring Day - BTS
Orange Trees - MARINA
When the Day Met the Night - Panic! At The Disco
ocean eyes - Billie Ellish
Cigarette Daydreams - Cage The Elephant
Up&Up - Coldplay
Thinkin Bout You - Frank Ocean
BLUE - Troye Sivan, Alex Hope
Bumper Cars - Alex & Sierra
City of Stars - Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
Stand By Me - Florence + The Machine
The Olive Grove - Steffany Gretzinger
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EDIT: As of April 20, 2020, deliveries of The Dream Coffee are operational within Metro Manila. More details here.
When the enhanced community quarantine was implemented in the island of Luzon due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we temporarily put our operations on pause beginning March 17. Here's what we've been up to so far.
1. Fueling our frontliners
To make the most out of the bags of The Dream Coffee we still had in our inventory, we used them to serve our frontliners at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the Philippines' national reference laboratory for infectious diseases. We did this together with the help of the local coffee community—an initiative of the founder of HeBrews: The Barako Coffee. This small service is nothing compared to the sacrifices our frontliners make for our country every single day. Maraming salamat po sainyo!
2. Getting the Dream to you
While our online store is temporarily not operational, you can still have The Dream Coffee delivered to you within Metro Manila and neighboring cities through Real Food, where it is available to purchase in beans and grounds. You can also purchase The Dream Coffee from Real Food through GrabFood.
3. Helping out while you #StayAtHome
Our friends at The Philippine Coffee Guild are looking for volunteers and donors to help and fuel our frontliners with coffee through their extended shifts at work.
Since this initiative began in March 23, the Guild has served frontliners in the following hospitals: San Lazaro Hospital, The Medical City-Ortigas, Veterans Memorial Medical Center, Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, San Juan Medical Center, Makati Medical Center, MCU Hospital, Ospital ng Makati, Rizal Medical Center, Santa Ana Hospital, UERM, Quirino Medical Center, Alfonso Specialist Center, Philippine Heart Center, PGH, Manila Doctors Hospital, and Lung Center of the Philippines.
Want to donate any of the items listed in the image or to volunteer as a home brewer? Send us a message here on the site or through any of our social media platforms.
You can also help frontliners through Frontline Feeders Philippines, communities through PAGASA, and the Office of the Vice President's efforts through Kaya Natin!
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We owe it to you to be a responsible business in these unprecedented times. In light of the increase in COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, we want to do our part in adhering to the enhanced community quarantine declared in the island of Luzon and in prioritizing the health and safety of everyone in our value chain. In life, much like in producing coffee, there is a season for everything.
We look forward to serving you again soon.
]]>In 2018, on November 15, we shared the Dream with the rest of the world through the release of this retail and resource site. But our collaboration with coffee farmers in T'Boli, South Cotabato started much earlier in 2017. That year, we set the foundations for equipping farmers with technical knowledge on agricultural practices and post-harvest processes, and we also started educating them on the basics of managing their finances through saving and investing.
The Dream Coffee's impact in communities in T'Boli continues to grow. We began by working with 1 barangay and 2 sitios (villages)—today, as more farmers see the value of arabica coffee, we are able to work with 2 barangays and 7 sitios. From 16 farmer-partners, we are currently working with 75, including their families.
Farmers have seen the potential of coffee for their future and a crucial way they invest is by planting more coffee trees. With the help of government institutions like the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), we now have 85,000 arabica coffee trees planted, a huge jump from 10,000.
In March of this year, farmers also organized themselves under the Knoon Highland Farmers Association, the establishment of which helps them work with other farmers in T'Boli, as well as puts them in a better position to negotiate with the public and private sector. In October, we instituted an increase in the farmers' green beans buying price—the second increase we've done in two years of collaborating with them.
Coffee farmers in T'Boli are at the center of this Dream, but so many others have also helped us tell their story and impact their lives. We want to thank the municipality of T'boli, the Peace and Equity Foundation, ACDI/VOCA, USAID's Protect Wildlife, the Philippine Fiber Industry Development, and the United Maligang Farmers Cooperative. We are grateful to the roasters we have worked with, from Bote Central to the Department of Coffee to our current roaster, Brew Atelier. We want to thank each of our retail partners and partner cafés for giving us a chance. We appreciate the creatives who have helped us in this journey—Nica Goma, AJ Pangilinan, Miko Reyes, and Maura Alvero. We are indebted to the vision of Jojo Joson, who saw this Dream come to life before anyone else did.
And we are thankful to you, the person reading this, for making The Dream Coffee a part of your life—whether you bought a bag, told a friend about it, visited a store of a café that shares the Dream—because of you, we are able to continue telling this story, while changing lives along the way.
As always, thank you for dreaming with us.
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1. What's your budget for coffee?
The Dream Coffee, whether you get it in whole beans or grounds, comes with the same price tag. But if you're planning on purchasing beans, you'll need to add a manual or an electric grinder to your coffee arsenal, especially if your coffee machine doesn't automatically grind the coffee for you. If a coffee grinder isn't a priority, then stick with getting a bag of grounds.
2. How do you brew your coffee?
The grounds of The Dream Coffee comes in a medium grind, which works best with drip and pourover brewing methods. If this is how you brew your coffee, the grounds should work just fine. But if you have a French press or an espresso machine, it's best to get a bag of beans so you can grind your coffee into a coarse grind (for French press) or a fine grind (for espresso machines).
3. How often do you drink coffee?
To get the freshest cup possible, ground coffee should ideally be consumed within two weeks of roasting. If you have a cup of coffee every day, you can finish a bag of grounds of The Dream Coffee in about a week. Grounds would still be a good choice if you're a frequent drinker. However, if you just keep coffee to drink during certain occasions, you're better off purchasing a bag of beans that you can grind right before brewing and serving.
4. How much time do you have to prepare coffee?
When you get a bag of grounds, all you need to do is brew your coffee, drink it, and make your dreams happen—this is ideal if you're the type to have a mad rush in the morning. Remember that if you're getting a bag of beans, you'll need to add a few minutes to your prep time to grind your coffee.
5. Are you particular about your coffee?
If your answer to this question is a resounding yes, by all means, get a bag of beans. Coffee loses 60% of its innate aroma within 15 minutes of grounding, according to Craft Beverage, so when you grind your beans right before you brew, you're making sure that you get the freshest, most flavorful cup possible.
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Something to make you smile, give you peace of mind, and fill you with warmth whenever it's overcast and cold. Best enjoyed with a cup of coffee—check out the Spotify playlist below.
Beginning July 29, 2019, The Dream Coffee will be available on GrabFood when you’re within 5 kilometers of the following locations in Metro Manila:
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The Dream begins when our Arabica coffee cherries are handpicked ripe by coffee farmers during harvest season. The cherries are processed following the honey wash method, and the green coffee beans that result from the processing are manually sorted—and only quality ones with 11% moisture content (the industry standard) make the cut.
The green coffee beans are stored in hermetically-sealed (airtight) bags and transported from T’Boli, South Cotabato to Manila, the capital of the Philippines. In Manila, the beans are roasted medium then packed, but always in small batches so your coffee tastes as fresh and as dream-like as possible.
Now, all that’s left for you to do is to wake up to the dream in your cup.
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Watch to know our design story in under a minute, and read more after the video.
The colors.
Red. The Tboli tribe has a heritage of weaving sacred fabric called T’nalak, which is always inspired by their dreams. T’nalak often has red and black colors and we chose to put focus on the former.
Yellow. More than just a complementary hue to the dominant red color, yellow depicts the tribe's inherent bright and loving nature. They are a people always radiating joy and hope.
Green. The municipality of T’Boli, South Cotabato, where our coffee is rooted and harvested, is characterized by lush, green mountains as far as the eye can see.
The typography.
Our typography is an original typeface that is inspired by the intricate T'nalak. The unique, hand-drawn character is intentional. Whether through a stroke of a pen or a weave of a fabric, we believe in giving life through the works of our hands.
The elements.
The mountains represent our origin. The Dream Coffee comes from a mountainous ancestral domain that has belonged to our farmers from time immemorial.
The clouds highlight the elevation of where our coffee is grown and the dreams we want to fulfill through coffee.
The stars symbolize the aspirational nature of dreams, and bring to mind the Tboli who weave from the dreams they see at night.
The pattern is richly inspired by T’nalak and the shape at the front was mindfully made to look like a structure—for our coffee is an advocacy and experience we want to keep building on.
The beans stand for the other half of our two-fold dream: giving you coffee with dream-like taste.
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