It is always a source of great pride seeing the product of one’s hard work thrive. To have people embrace it warmly and wholeheartedly. Such sense of pride and feeling of achievement couldn’t have been more evident than with the Nescafé Classic First Pick where coffee farmers whose diligence and perseverance in producing and harvesting the best coffee beans have made the annual event so successful.
“We have been working closely with Filipino coffee farmers for the past decades and whatever success our products have, we owe a huge of it to them,” says Joel Lumagbas, head of Nestle’s Agricultural Services.
He adds, “The farmers and the celebration that comes with every harvest season are our inspiration behind Nescafé First Pick. For the past 70 years, our team of experts has long observed the unique, fresh and flavorful cup profile of carefully selected and roasted coffee picked at the beginning of the harvest season.”
Nescafé is involved in sourcing coffee from hundreds of thousands of Filipino coffee farmers and other people involved in the planting, harvesting, processing and trading of coffee. In fact, its Nestle Experimental and Demonstration Farm (NEDF) in Davao provides about 80 percent of all Robusta coffee planting materials used in the Philippines.
Lumagbas explains that first pick coffee cherries have a distinct, fresh taste. “Together with Nescafé’s special roasting process, we are able to bring out the cherries’ full taste and aroma.”
He adds, “When you get a jar of Nescafé Classic First Pick, you know you’re getting the best of the harvested beans. You’re getting the cream of the crop, so to speak. That’s why it is a limited edition coffee.”
Nescafé First Pick is also proudly Philippine-made, only using high-grade coffee beans sourced nationwide. It is stamped with the Kape Isla seal, a guarantee that it uses 100-percent Philippine coffee.
For over forty years, Nescafé’s partnership with Filipino farmers has resulted in the enlivening of the coffee farming industry through programs and platforms that helped improve their crops, yield and income.
In 1986, Nescafé established the Buying Stations across the country wherein farmers can go directly to Nescafé to sell their harvest and, in turn, earn more from the sale of their crops through competitive prices for their yield.
In 1994, it founded the NEDF in Tagum, Davao. Here, farmers are trained in the proper way of growing coffee and are provided with quality and high-yielding Robusta coffee planting materials.
In the past couple of years alone, the NEDF has distributed hundreds of thousands of coffee seeds, seedlings and root cuttings to farmers. All these to guarantee the harvest’s high quality.
With the program’s success, Nescafé continues to draw more coffee farmers to be part of it. So as coffee lovers all over the country raise their cup of Nescafé Classic First Pick, it signifies more than a testament to the enjoyment of that cup, but a salute to the Filipino coffee farmer.