Christian Carl Gabriel, the barista-owner of GenSan’s Workstation Specialty Café, emerged as the champion in the “Treasures of Region 12: BLENDS Brewer’s Cup Competition 2024.” The event took place on Sunday, September 29, at Veranza Mall in General Santos City.
“Daog ta karon! More competitions to join pa. Daghan kayo tag matun-an every competition. Thank you, DTI Region 12!” said Gabriel in a Facebook post.
John Vincent Morilla secured first place, while Amir Lim took second place. Both baristas hail from Tacurong City.
In its second year, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region 12 continues to support baristas and coffee shop owners through this brewer’s competition, allowing them to showcase their skills in brewing the finest local coffee from the Soccsksargen region.
This competition is part of the “Treasures of Region 12: BLENDS,” which aims to promote local products made from coffee, cacao, coconut, and banana. These products are produced by agro-enterprises supported by the Rural Agro-Enterprise Partnership for Inclusive Development and Growth (RAPID Growth) project.
DTI-12 Regional Director Flora Politud-Gabunales highlighted that the competition complements the project’s interventions across the coffee value chain, from production to consumer.
She emphasized that the competition is expected to spark public interest in manual coffee brewing and encourage people to patronize locally-produced coffee. Participants demonstrated the art of brewing, showcasing the quality of local coffee.
Coffee is one of Region 12’s key high-value crops, accounting for about 26% of the country’s total coffee production, with the majority coming from the province of Sultan Kudarat.
DTI’s RAPID Growth Project and the Industry Cluster Enhancement (ICE) program play significant roles in supporting the region’s coffee stakeholders.
The RAPID Growth Project is a special initiative led by DTI that focuses on value chain-based, market-driven business development to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth for rural farming communities in selected regions of the country.
In Region 12, the project covers the provinces of Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Sarangani, where institutional strengthening initiatives on market development and promotion were implemented as part of the BLENDS event.
The “Treasures of Region 12: BLENDS” event ran from September 27-29, 2024. This three-day event promoted products from local agro-enterprises made from coffee, cacao, coconut, and banana.
BLENDS, which stands for Boosting Local Economy by Nurturing in-Demand Specialties, has three major components: selling locally processed products through a trade fair, conducting forums and learning sessions on business best practices, and hosting competitions and demonstrations that showcase local talents in coffee brewing and value-adding using the four target commodities.
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(Press Release from DTI 12 and photos by Jay Padilla)
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