Almost one year ago, Vice Consul Mark Ponce of the Philippine embassy in Beirut came bringing me Lebanese wine, chocolates and roasted coffee. Like a true diplomat he started our conversation with pleasantries over a cup of coffee (of course) at a café serving only Philippine coffee in Makati called Commune. He broached the idea of taking Philippine coffee to Beirut. Like a true marketer, he did not leave without bringing some bags of Philippine coffee back to his place of work.
Then came his colleague Attaché Jerome Abeleda who got into the granular and asked for specific varieties – Liberica, Excelsa, Robusta and Arabica from different origins in the country. Jerome took them back raw or in green form so their local roaster contact named Rana could roast it. Maybe in Saudi Arabia, maybe in Lebanon, but she was open and cooperative to try these coffees they have never heard of before. Rana Ibrahim is a coffee expert and along with Us Coffee (yes it is not US but Us like we or tayo) cooperated with the Philippine embassy in mounting this all-Filipino merienda.
Last Sept. 18 at 10 a.m., Us Coffee hosted not a few visitors who were treated to an array of Fiipino specialties like puto, piaya, pandesal and other merienda fare that goes well with coffee. The varieties of coffee from Sulu, Davao, Cavite and Benguet took center stage, with appropriate labels all prepared by Rana and company. Some were taken as espresso, some were brewed as filter coffee and some used the pour-over method. This is how you know that they know how to roast and drink their coffee. The Philippine Coffee Board (www.philcoffeeboard.com) simply followed the wishes of Mark and Jerome to prepare the coffee samples, label them and send them videos of our farms and farmers.
This is the trending way to approach diplomacy. We share what we can be proud of in terms of good quality products, done the right way. There is no faster way to make friends than over a cup of coffee (or tea) after all. While alcohol sales are globally going south, coffee drinking is going up. So why not make friends using coffee and its partners like puto and bibingka?
The key is in the interest to bring the product. Coffee is an easy sell. With global coffee prices on the rise, roasters look for unique origins they can offer to discerning palates regardless of price. This is where we explain, Philippine coffee is not to be promoted commercially as a commodity raw material for instant coffee mixes, but a specialty product to be enjoyed one cup at a time. Because when you see coffee, it may all look the same – a green bean until it is roasted looks like most other green or raw coffee beans. It is in the roasting that most of the magic happens. And professional coffee roasters know their favorites or what coffee can pass their stringent standards. We had to make sure the moisture level was correct or within range, the beans were free of defects and broken pieces and could be roasted and tasted by coffee experts like Rana.
Next came the labeling. We gave information on the elevation of the farm, the name of farmer or farm, the process it went through after harvest and the town or barangay it came from. One of the samples is from our Tausug Princess Kumalah Sug-Elardo, who they featured in the video presentation as a Muslim princess from Panamao, Sulu.
I was overjoyed when I saw the “at the moment” stories on Instagram showing the event where our Philippine Ambassador Marlowe Miranda graced the event and Lebanese media had a party interviewing the people behind the successful coffee tasting. Our ambassadors on the ground in Lebanon and the Middle East are actually our baristas who are employed in the many bars and cafes in the Gulf area. These Filipino baristas introduce us as a coffee drinking people and the coming of our very own Philippine-grown coffee would be a welcome addition to their bars and cafes.
When I saw the tasting notes of Rana on the coffee labels, I knew she knew where we were coming from. She identified the very flavors we wanted to communicate to the coffee drinkers of today. If they want a fruit flavor, they choose Liberica or Barako. If they want hints of chocolate, they choose Benguet Arabica. And so the flavor hunting continues because our four varieties each have a different flavor note and much more when the Arabica comes from different places – one was from Benguet and one was from Davao. So the possibilities of tasting notes is virtually endless as you offer different terroir, just like wine.
As we write, the Philippine embassy in Paris also asked for samples for an October coffee event to be done at the embassy. We also spoke with the embassy in nearby Brunei who has put us in touch with some roasters via Zoom and a coffee farm owner who we will visit soon.
In Tel Aviv, Philippine Ambassador Aileen Mendiola has started rounding up coffee, chocolates and liquor suppliers for a different tasting event sometime at the start of January 2027. We have had several meetings to zero in on the taste profile of the local market, and she has come back with samples of what they drink in their cafés. And that is the first step in any diplomatic discussion – tell us what they eat and drink, and we can show you what coffee to bring them.
That is exactly what Vice Consul Mark Ponce did. He came bringing Lebanese roasted coffee, chocolates and wine. And now we can say, the rest is history.
Congratulations to our diplomats who have found gastronomic diplomacy as the perfect tool to make friends with the peoples of the world.