When you think of a fine locally brewed cup of coffee, rarely do we ever think of the origin of what gives you that jumpstart for the long day ahead. Enter, Tere Domine and Kalsada Coffee, paving the way for the revival and growth of the local coffee industry. Through a unique connection with the community and an unwavering commitment to elevating Philippine coffee, Kalsada provides a story of empowerment and sustainability through each cup.
Tere Domine
Tere Domine is the current co-founder and country director of Kalsada Coffee. Her journey started as a part-time translator for Carmel Laurino, who started the company with Lacy Audry back in 2014. Carmel and Lacy toured the country immersing themselves with the culture of local coffee communities. Tere eventually took charge of the community development aspect of Kalsada leading to her learning how to cup and roast coffee.
Her role in Kalsada has her managing their current communities in Bukidnon and Benguet with responsibilities including farm management, post-processing to the milling, sorting and quality control. She takes the lead in exporting coffee to different countries such as the US, the UK and Australia and coordinates with partner coffee enterprises in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Tarlac.
The Heart and Soul of Kalsada
“One of the values we cultivate the most in Kalsada is transparency”
From setting up systems to agreeing on price points, everything is discussed with the team. To ensure the value of transparency and trust with these communities, a member of the team lives in each community, opening up a culture for the farmers to feel safe and comfortable. The right price is decided through a pre-harvest meeting discussing global and local prices, harvest expenses, and considering the effort and cost of living.
Kalsada only puts their trust in roasters and cafes that are able to uphold their value of transparency with the communities and people they work with. Each roaster is chosen carefully with consumer education trusted to them because of their constant exposure with customers. The interaction doesn’t just end with a handshake, all partners of Kalsada are encouraged to work at the farm level giving a deeper knowledge and connection with coffee leading to a market with better appreciation for Philippine coffee.
The Bumpy Road Ahead
“It takes time to develop long-term community commitment”
By working with a community based-model, the scale-up for Kalsada stays slow. Over the past ten years of operation, the significant impact was only really felt over the past two years. Some of the things considered throughout the process includes balancing the interest of the different stakeholders, the farmers in the communities, the roasters and coffee shop owners in the private sector, the non-profit coffee organizations, and the local government units.
Trusting the Process
When talking about the process of procurement, Tere and Kalsada worked with many different local partners over the past decade. A key activity in the success of their process is cupping and tasting the coffees together leaving room for discussion on how the process works and what their markets prefer in terms of taste.
“Our prevailing challenge has always been supply”
Kalsada prioritizes planting more coffee in their communities, rejuvenating trees, and working with enterprises with similar models due to the demand for premium to specialty Philippine coffee exceeding their levels of production. Tere states that “it’s the only way we can increase the supply of quality coffee.”
Before working in Sitio Belis, Sitio Naguey, Sitio Kisbong, and Sitio San Roque, Tere says that no standards of quality were present in the processing of coffee. Currently, the producers Kalsada works with are well versed in picking coffee cherries and working with different post-processing methods.
From their humble beginnings in 2014, to supplying high quality coffee beans to chains all around the world, Kalsada’s vision of making high-quality community-based Philippine coffee the norm comes closer to being a reality each day. Tere and Kalsada’s story, encapsulates a compelling tale of passion, innovation, and social impact. Their flourishing journey about the power of uplifting and inspiring a community through transparency, dedication to quality and meaningful collaboration fulfills the purpose of Kalsada’s mission to begin with, supporting Filipino coffee producers and their dedicated efforts to bring quality coffee to the people.
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