Tabuk, Kalinga , Philippines – Kalinga coffee is making big in China.
Finding its nitch in the international market, the brand Kalinga Brew has a very good demand in the huge market in China with booking orders reaching 10 tons worth P5 million.
Kalinga Brew’s owner Antuza Refalda said Kalinga Brew is one of the 27 processed foods manufactured in the Philippines exhibited in China during the 6th China-ASEAN Expo held at Nanning, Guangxi from Oct. 18-25.
The 10 ton order will be delivered in 12 months until the next Expo next year, she said.
Refalda said she brought to China 500 kilos and was sold out in the first two days of the week-long exhibit.
“The Chinese are now declining tea and looking for Kalinga coffee because they claim it has a wonderful aroma and convincing taste, and believe it has also medicinal value to them,” she said.
“Philippine exhibits broke the record as the highest in sales among participants from countries half of the globe,” Refalda also said.
Described by patrons in five countries as the ‘best brewed coffee in the world,’ Kalinga brewed coffee gained its trade mark in the global market when introduced by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in their workplace abroad, the trade and industry department said.
That was the first taste of the new product and it spread to small coffee shops also managed by OFWs particularly in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East.
“Kalinga Brew will be introduced in Thailand and Australia next year,” Refalda said.
DOST-Kalinga Provincial Officer Alfonso Berto said their office provided Refalda this year a zero-interest loan for a new coffee processing equipment procured last October worth P910,000.
The overseas merchant caravan was organized and financed by the Department of Agriculture and the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) of DTI.