Alamid Café Xpress: Brews that boost local farmers

The world's most exotic and expensive coffee beans sold at a more reasonable price.

Debates will always be made as to what province in the Philippines produces the best tasting coffee. But there is no doubt that coffee beans produced by the famous Alamid, or Philippine civet cat, will always gain a top spot. After all, these pricey roasts are considered a luxury even by coffee connoisseurs. 

On February 8, a new coffee joint called Alamid Café Xpress formally opened their first branch to offer alamid coffee, but with a more reasonable price. They also offer coffees from different regions around the country.

The alamid coffee comes from the droppings of the civet cat, which eats and digests the coffee berries. These droppings are believed to be the most exotic and expensive coffee beans in the world.

Located inside Recreational Outdoor eXchange at B1, Bonifacio High Street in Taguig City, Alamid Café Xpress carries the catchphrase “Coffee is adventure.”

Bote Central is the owner of Alamid Coffee and its new café. The driving force behind the company is a family who loves nature, and who happens to believe that one way to enjoy nature is via its produce, coffee.

Bote Central’s Chairman/President and treasurer are husband and wife Basil and Vie Reyes, respectively, who had humble beginnings before they developed their now lucrative business.

Alamid Cafe Xpress makes brews that help local farmers

Pro-nature; pro-farmers

Certainly, there have been ups and downs in growing the business as the couple’s daughter Rachelle Red remembers. There came a time, apparently, that the family would only gather a kilo of coffee droppings a week, which obviously meant minimal profit. This, explained Red, was because they get their coffee beans from wild and roaming civet cats unlike others that cage the animals and force feed them with the coffee berries.

“We love nature [and] adventures so we push for the preservation of the environment,” she explained.

Eventually, it was the family’s vision of helping local communities and products that paved way for the success of Alamid Coffee.

“Coffee is a passion that we have especially [to help] the community,” said Vie.  “When everything is going international [or] global, we [choose to] go local.”

Her daughter added, “It is our vision to help local coffee farmers in different communities.” Elaborating, she said that there is a long supply chain that farmers need to go through to sell their produce. They have to go to retailers to process their coffee, before it can reach the market, which whittles down their profit. As a solution, his father Basil and brother Paolo innovated roasting machines for their farmer partners.

Throughout Philippines—from the Mountain Province to Jolo—14 community-roasting facilities funded by German Development Service were installed. In effect Alamid Coffee brought the market closer to the farmers, as they can now sell roasted beans to buyers. 

A cup of Alamid coffee

Around the country with coffee

Besides serving the world’s rarest brew, the Alamid Café Xpress also offers a line called “Origins Blended Coffee.”

Origins Coffee is comprised of beans that are indigenous to different provinces in the Philippines. Among the selection is Arabica coffee from Mount Barlig of Mountain Province in the Cordillera and Mount Matumtum of South Cotabato in Mindanao; Liberica from Mount Halcon in Oriental Mindoro; Exelsa from Mount Banahaw in Quezon Province; and Robusta from Maragusan, Compostela Valley in Mindanao.

Red added that guests can customize their own blend from the different provinces, depending on their taste. A suggestion she made is a combination of 50-percent Arabica and 50-percent Robusta.

The café will also feature a partner community every month, like the Mangyans from Mindoro and their indigenous ingredient.

Clearly, the goal of Alamid Café Xpress is not just to give customers coffee fixes but local brews that will make them proud. 


Article first published for The Manila Times.