What’s brewing? Ask Chit Juan

If there are two businesses to be busy with today, they’ve got to be marketing Philippine coffee from farm to cup and selling franchises of homegrown companies. Yet, having been part of the original Tavern on the Square, Chit Juan could not pass up the chance to re-open Tavern at the Greenbelt 3 with friends Sandra Chavez, Wyngard Tracy, Rene Cruz and this author.

When not planting coffee trees or selling the country through coffee and franchising , Chit finds time to read while waiting in any of their coffee shops or when she is away at the beach or catching a flight somewhere.

Still searching for a local book on coffee, Chit collaborated with Vicky Veloso-Barrera to introduce coffee-making at home in their new book entitled: KAPE – A Philippine Coffee Cookbook where Vicky made recipes for desserts and breads that go well with coffee. The next project though will be a serious book on the Philippine coffee history and coffee drinking practices all over the country. Watch out for it.

CHIT JUAN’S BOOK LIST

1. TAKE YOUR TIME by Eknath Easwaran Easwaran shows us how to "live intentionally" through slowing down the mind. Some kind of yoga for the soul. This book shows us how to slow down our pace without slowing productivity, improve and deepen relationships, make deliberate and intentional choices and focus our scattered attention.

2. FOOD, True stories of life on the road, edited by Richard Sterling

The one thing constant in travel is food. Some may go to museums, some may enjoy parks, some look for luxury resorts…but all travellers break bread with strangers and leave the table with friends.

3. PRINCIPLE-CENTERED LEADERSHIP by Stephen R. Covey

Reviews characteristics of principle-centered leaders. You can read it a chapter a week, or a chapter a day. It leads one to an understanding of how to increase quality and productivity and to appreciate the importance of building personal and professional relationships for a more balanced and rewarding life.

4. LIVE IN A BETTER WAY compiled by Renuka Singh

Reflections on truth, love and happiness. How to train the mind to be more positive, like what they practice in Buddhism. Mental training for good health.

5. UNCOMMON GROUNDS by Mark Pendergrast

The book unfolds a panoramic story of epic proportions about the second most traded commodity in the world, coffee.

6. A YEAR IN PROVENCE by Peter Mayle

The author manages to transport us into the earthy pleasures of life in Provence and lets us live vicariously in a tempo governed by seasons not by days.

The Reading Club recommends: HARRY POTTER SPECIAL STICKER ALBUMS for Harry Potter fanatics, distributed by Emerald Headway, available at all National Book Stores and Powerbooks.

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Your comments and suggestions are always appreaciated at readclub@aol.com.