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Sustainability
Coffee farmers share in the world’s first pick celebrations
By Carlomar Daoana
December 2008
UNDER the shadow of the Andes, Peruvians who live in the Mantaro Valley offer cocoa, liquor and cigars as gratitude for an abundant first harvest. In Napa Valley, merry-makers stomp their feet in vats filled with newly picked grapes and dance to a music strung from a guitar to usher in a season of wine. In Japan, farmers give thanks to the deities by offering them a few grains of rice in return for the original seeds the deities gave to their emperor.
In the Philippines, Filipino farmers look forward to their first harvest of crops. Even before the dawn breaks and spills its light on the rolling plains, they are already awake, cradling a cup of coffee in their hands. Though they have lived intimately with the land and know by heart the cycle of sun and rain, they consider this day as special, as though they are harvesting for the first time.
The farmers, their hands revealing the dignified marks of their industry, are about to perform the first pick of coffee cherries for the year, confirming their hope of an abundant yield. They have waited for this occasion like the birth of something magical. Their baskets slung on their bodies, the farmers walk to the coffee plantation with eager delight and prayer in their lips, the smell of earth pregnant with possibilities.
The first pick of coffee cherries happens in the Philippines, specifically in Mindanao, from August to December, just when the morning arrives with a nip in the air and the land, vast hectares of it, is anointed with fog. The coffee shrubs, their leaves spread out to the sky, look ready and bewitching. Just like a delicate fruit, the coffee berries have to be handpicked from their stem. Covered with dew, the berries show off a color of deep burgundy, recalling the stain of wine on a white table cloth.
Since time immemorial, the first pick of any crop or produce—grapes, fruits, even flowers—has been looked upon by different cultures with ritual expectation. It is a confirmation of their hardwork and the benevolence of the earth which, time and time again, has not failed them, yielding its life-sustaining fruits. It is not an exaggeration to say that they see this as an event touched with a spiritual meaning. How can you logically explain the beauty of a simple plant nurturing within its fruits the most exquisite of flavors known to mankind?
As a gratitude to the Filipino farmers, NESCAFE has marked and elevated the first pick harvest into a celebration—a first in the world. By doing so, NESCAFE aligns the occasion with other first pick harvests that transpire all over the world which are steep in festivities, gratitude and friendship. From the first pick of grapes from the Napa Valley to the lavender blooms from the South of France, Philippines’ first pick of coffee cherries becomes an event vital to community and culture, uniting the farmers in their vocation of bringing a delicious sense of happiness into people’s lives.
In respecting the first pick’s distinct flavor, Nestle has designed a special roasting method that will make sure that the coffee cherries fulfill their flavor and aroma. The transformation of the hard round coffee berries into soluble powder is magical as well. Machines roast, grind and powder the essence of the coffee cherries to be packed in specially-marked, limited-edition containers, giving birth to NESCAFE Classic First Pick.
Because they are of the first pick, the coffee comes as strong, bold and confident. It’s not for the faint-hearted. It swells in the mouth, awakens the tongue and warms the belly. The body perks up with a wave of pungent, dark taste. The smell—a gorgeous, lifting aroma—wafts in the air and envelops you with comfort. Only one word describes the taste of the first pick: heavenly.
Just like the coffee cherries from where it came, NESCAFE Classic First Pick is seasonal, to be savored only in certain months and to be desired for the rest of the year. It can be likened to the blossoming of certain flowers that happens only for a couple of weeks and then is gone. Nothing in the world that is precious can be had daily. We, in turn, share in the eagerness of the farmers for that first pick.
As one of the most passionate drinkers of coffee in the world, we can share in the celebration, acknowledge the work done by the farmers and Mother Nature and affirm our deep and abiding roots as a Filipino. NESCAFE Classic First Pick is one of the few brands stamped with the Kape Isla seal, a mark of endorsement from the National Coffee Development Board and a guarantee that it uses 100 percent Philippine coffee.
Regardless of who we are and where we are, by enjoying a cup of NESCAFE Classic First Pick, we partake in that one moment where we are bound by the richness of flavor and the kindness of the good earth. |
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