PHL rep at World Barista Championship: ‘It’s my mission to show people that Pinoy coffee is just as good’

The World Barista Championship is currently ongoing in Boston and representing the Philippines is Michael Harris Conlin, CEO of Henry & Sons, one of the leading coffee companies in the Philippines, a certified coffee geek.

His game plan for the Olympics of coffee? To showcase, for the very first time in the competition, our very own. Conlin has in his back pocket coffee from Itogon, Benguet to be specific.

“The people who watch it are the industry decision makers in the world,” he began when he met the press before flying to Boston.

“If I can bring Philippine coffee to the world stage and show case that the Philippines has amazing coffee that can stand side-by-side with other coffees, then it would inspire coffee farmers to start planting again. It would inspire baristas to not just worship Ethiopian or Panamanian coffee, but also love our own coffee.

“It’s my mission to show people our coffee is just as good.”

Itogon coffee was a recent discovery for Conlin. He has been in the coffee industry for almost 20 years but “didn’t know there was coffee in Itogon. No clue. Didn’t know.”

Until late 2018 when a landslide hit the Benguet, killing more than 90, burying several homes, and wiping out 80% of the town’s business.

"When we got to the evacuation center, the mayor got up and thanked us for the water we brought. He asked what business we were in and I said we were coffee roasters. He said, ‘Perfect! May kape kami dito!’ And I was shocked'," he narrates.

The mayor told him he wanted to ban small-scale mining so with Conlin, they worked together to transform what was a mining community into a coffee-farming one.

After just a few weeks in November, Mr. Conlin, his team, and local farmers started processing the coffee.

“And this is what we’re bringing to the world. To Boston and the World Barista Championship. We are going to bring Itogon coffee that we processed ourselves from a town we transformed from a mining town to a coffee town and we’re going to show the world how delicious Philippine coffee can be.”

When asked about the advantage of Itogon coffee over the 100 or so in competition, he candidly replied, “The thing is I know it really well.”

He fondly recounted how his coach — Japan's Hidenori Izaki, 2014 World Champion — initially “freaked out” when told of his decision to use local coffee. “I pushed him to try it and he was so amazed. It was such a nice feeling na nagulat siya kasi talagang binabalewala niya. He said ‘I’ve never heard of that coffee'. 

“The coffee tastes like cherry and anise and when you mix with strawberries from La Trinidad it tastes like root beer. And who doesn’t like root beer, right?” Conlin says with a smile that conveyed pride, ecstasy, and nostalgia. — LA, GMA News