On October 12 to 13, 2019, The Dream Coffee visited farmers from some of our most far-flung sitios: Sitios Blo and Tahikong in Barangay Salacafe. These sitios are completely unaccessible by car or motorcycle and require at least a four-hour hike or a two and half-hour horse ride.
During our visit, we conducted dialogues with farmers to prepare for the incoming harvest season—our third with them since we began working together in 2017. We updated them about the market for their coffee across different cities in the Philippines and we also set new standards for their green coffee beans, based on the Coffee Quality Institute's criteria.
Farmers shared how they can be helped in consistently meeting these standards, and one of the requests they brought was a price increase in the green beans that The Dream Coffee purchases from them, which, thankfully, we were able to agree on. This is the second time we've agreed to set a increase in their green beans buying price and we hope to do it annually, in addition to providing them equipment and logistical support for the processing and transport of their coffee.
We are so grateful for all the hard work that our farmer-partners give and we are looking forward to a bountiful harvest this year.
Preparing for the hike to Sitios Blo and Tahikong
Newly harvested cherries from Sitio Tahikong
Sitio Tahikong leader, Kap. Frie (rightmost), and other farmers and their families
Cherries ready for harvest in Sitio Blo
Our community managers Joel and Sanon (rightmost, in red and in black) with farmers from Sitio Blo and their families
Sitio Blo by day
