Coffee and Cacao Trees of Albay

In 1859, Fedor Jagor, a German ethnologist and naturalist, stayed in Albay during his exploration in Asia. In his book “Travels in the Philippines”, he mentioned about coffee and cacao trees thriving in the yard of his temporary shelter in Daraga. When he saw the overripe fruits, he had them collected and made into chocolate. He further wrote: “so great is the laziness of the Indians that they frequently allow the berries to decay…” 

Although time has changed, these fruits are still treated almost the same way as 150  years ago. The cacao fruits are still sometimes left to overripe in our neighborhood in Albay. Unlike pili nut which is usually directly bought and picked-up by buyers from households, these beautiful fruit pods has low priority and marketability in the area. The constant rain is surely one of the reasons our folks don’t bother the labor-intensive process of preparation even for personal use. Last year, one of our neighbors did made a cacao candy delicacy and shared it with us on Christmas. Sugar and milk are expensive after all so they only made it for gift giving.

The Coffee Tree in my Brother’s Front Yard

In my brother’s front yard, there's an old tiny tree that stands conspicuously. As it was next to their bamboo gate, I would often notice the tree every time I visit his family. I would look at the pretty tree and moved on to enter their house. I never bothered to ask what it was. One random day, the tree was so noticeable with its red cherry-like fruits and to my surprise, it was a coffee tree! 

A handful of coffee from my niece Sharbel

Shame on me for being a coffee lover but fails to identify the tree after so long. Nobody really bothers to make freshly brewed coffee. Everyone around usually prepares their 3-in-1 coffee mix to start their days. 

I collected 2 handfuls of the fruits with my niece' help. I wanted to make a DIY coffee from scratch, but it rained. Our windows were under construction so I wasn’t able to dry the seeds under the sun. When I checked the coffee beans again,  they were moldy. 

Then, I left town and settled outside of our province. When I returned for another random visit at my brother’s home, the tree was gone. It was knocked down by a typhoon. I was never able to make even a cup of my DIY coffee. I often sulk to how our weather sucks. One time I complained at my mother ans she shared the time they had a coffee farm in Cumadcad in Sorsogon before they sold the land. Around our neighborhood, I haven’t seen again another coffee tree standing tall and proud.

Now, I just buy my coffee beans online. They’re quite expensive. When I resettled back to the province, I checked the local public markets for coffee beans and it's not common. On one of our motorcycle rides to Sorsogon, we stopped by the public market and found the roasted coffee beans were more expensive than from online stores. I’m still looking for a nearby market to locally sourced my raw or roasted coffee.

The Cacao Tree in our Yard

Unlike coffee, the cacao trees were doing well in our neighborhood. Processing cacao beans from scratch has been our regular activity. It’s a bit time consuming from fermenting to drying then roasting to grinding. We use our coffee grinder since we usually process for just a few cups. It's nice to have and since it’s from our front yard we’re quite guaranteed it's organic. The cacao trees in our yard were planted by my parents. My mother proudly told me about planting them. We’re very happy when the tree in the front yard was rigorously fruiting. The cacao trees in our backyard bore fruit recently. Mother wasn’t able to see them anymore but I’m very grateful for her enthusiasm to plant them.

Cacao trees from our neighborhood