Meet Our Coffee Farmers
Partner Farmers
We are proud to share some of our partner farmers’ stories with you.
Manang Mina
Born to a family of coffee farmers, Manang Mina knew at a young age that her livelihood will be built on sustainable coffee farming. This same passion is passed on to her children and grandchildren, who help tend to her backyard farm. Her Typica coffee trees in Sitio Lower Sayet in Atok, Benguet, grow alongside passionfruits, papaya, and native lemons. We like thinking this perhaps explains the vibrant and zesty notes in her coffee beans. ;)
Nana Yoly
Nana Yoly is a hardworking mother (to Manang Mina) and a dedicated coffee grower, and has inspired her children to be the same. Every year, she plants new coffee seedlings and prunes their family’s heirloom coffee trees in her mountain backyard.
A proud Ibaloi, she loves leading community gatherings through chants and dances. Her warm smile and soothing voice make everyone around her feel so much at home.
Auntie Irenea
When not pruning her coffee trees, you will find Auntie Irenea Akisio hard at work in the nursery tending to her ornamental flowers. An entrepreneur-at-heart, she always looks for ways to make lives better for others by helping create opportunities for them; whether it be hiring youth at the coffee farm during summer months or by teaching best gardening practices.
Auntie Josie and Uncle Victor
Josie and Victor Rubin live in Sitio Balutakay, a community located at the foot of Mount Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippine archipelago.
With high elevation and a cool climate, their farm is an excellent location for arabica coffee. They are proud of the fact that these coffee trees play an important role in protecting the Mount Apo watershed.
Their coffee tastes like caramelized brown sugar with a nice fruity after taste.
Ate Marivic Dubria
Ate Marivic is a wife, a mother, and a community leader in the Balutakay Coffee Farmers (BACOFA) Co-operative. Her enthusiasm about coffee farming is contagious, encouraging other women in her community to start working in coffee as well.
We are thrilled to bring her delicious and award-winning coffee to Vancouver. If you have not tried ‘langka’ or jackfruit yet, her coffee would be a nice introduction.
The coffee farms in Bansalan are situated on the Indigenous ancestral lands of the Bagobo-Tagabawa tribes.
Florencio & Florencia
Uncle Florencio and Auntie Florencia are such a happy, loving couple who are so diligent and patient since they have more than 3,000 coffee trees sprawled traversing the heels of Mount Apo, the Philippines’ highest peak.
Their names mean ‘flourishing, prosperous, blooming’ - words which also describe their farm. We’re so excited to carry their honey-processed beans, which to us taste like peach with tamarind candy, & maple syrup (very Canadian Filipino!). :)