Manual Brew
Plunger – French Press
When you support local brands, not only do you support the company, but also the community that takes part in bringing the brand from source to your home. Before sky rises and the corporate world, I grew up in a sleepy town close to the foot of an active volcano called Mt. Matutum. We’re a town full of pineapples, cold water springs, and pine trees.
As I lived between Polomolok, Gensan and Davao, I was a 3-in-1 coffee dependent. It’s the instant coffee that kept me awake when I had to study, especially on sleepless nights as I crammed for the CPA board exams. When I entered the corporate world, the big coffee names became my indulgence. No wonder, other than stress, I also gained weight and built terrible food and sleeping habits.
As I matured and third wave coffee started to earn its name in Makati’s business district, along with committing to be fit and live a healthier lifestyle, it required me to make amends with my relationship with coffee. I was also glad to have fallen in love with artisan coffee at first taste, black most especially. My love grew further as I saw the local coffee roasting scenery when I moved to Austin, Texas for my MBA. So when I came home to the Philippines, I couldn’t be more prouder to know that my hometown has it’s own homegrown coffee and would highly recommend Greentropics Coffee Enterprise’s Matutum Brew: “Each fine quality coffee bean is nurtured to taste by the rainforest and the Blaan Farmers of the Majestic Mt. Matutum.
I became more conscious that coffee is not only about giving you your caffeine fix. It’s an art, where coffee enthusiasts obsesses over how a coffee tastes, like how wine lovers do with their wines. I was also privileged to have a sister-in-law in the third wave coffee business 8th Block Café and The Dough Story by 8th Block – DAVAO. So when the opportunity to learn the craft came in, I immediately invited myself to join a barista training, which starts in a few weeks.
For the mean time, I am being taught by my brother, sister-in-law and YouTube as I begin my journey of 1,000 Cups of Failures (the other side of 1,000 Cups to Perfection). I look forward to see my progress as I continue to make 994 more cups in the next coming days, weeks, and months.
Did you see things that I’ve done wrong in this video? If so, I would love to hear! My brother just sent me a message saying I shouldn’t be pressing on the weighing scale. Whoops!