Finding Our Coffee: Learning, Identity, and Marinduque

2 May 2026 | Rafael Seño

A cup of coffee is a shared experience.

Through learning, careful listening, and steady work, Marinduque is coming to know its coffee not as an abstract crop, but as something rooted in place, people, and practice. From the cupping table to the farm, the café, and eventually the cup, this is a story about understanding what we grow, how we care for it, and how, over time, it becomes something we can confidently call our own.

On 23 April 2026, Kaluppâ had the privilege of taking part in the Public Coffee Cupping for MIMAROPA Coffee in Oriental Mindoro, an activity organized by DTI MIMAROPA. While the cupping was designed to understand and appreciate coffees from across the wider MIMAROPA region, it also became, through reflection, a way of locating Marinduque coffee within that larger regional landscape. The event brought together producers, processors, and advocates from across the region with a common goal: to know and understand the personalities of coffee grown in MIMAROPA.

At its core, coffee cupping is a disciplined sensory exercise, evaluating aroma, flavor, body, acidity, sweetness, aftertaste, and balance. Each cup tells a story. And when those stories are compared side by side, patterns begin to emerge, patterns that help define not only coffee profiles, but also the identities of the farmers, the land, and the communities behind every bean.

The cupping table prepared according to standard protocols, with brewed coffee, labeled samples, and evaluation notes laid out for structured sensory assessment.

Paul Bañas of Sinag Café evaluates the aroma of a freshly brewed Marinduque coffee sample, an important first step in understanding a coffee’s character and expression.

Participants from across the MIMAROPA region take part in the cupping session, comparing samples, recording observations, and engaging in shared learning at the table.

The Setting and the People Behind the Cups

The public cupping was hosted at Sinag Coffee Roastery and Café in Oriental Mindoro, which served both as venue and industry-oriented learning space for the activity. The session was facilitated by Paul Bañas of Sinag, whose work in café operations, training, and coffee quality advocacy grounded the discussion in both sensory discipline and industry practice.

The event was attended by coffee producers, farmers, and industry representatives from across the entire MIMAROPA region, creating a rare space where production realities, market needs, and quality standards could be discussed in one table.

Marinduque was represented by a cross section of sector actors:

Rafael Seño, Executive Director, Kaluppâ Foundation
Eunice Fabellon, Malibago Upland Farmer Beneficiaries Agriculture Cooperative
Jean Vianney Manay and Nicolas Noel Manay, of Coffeesentials
Noemi Bumatay, DTI Trade and Industry Development Specialist – CARP
Roniel Macatol, DTI Marinduque Provincial Director

The regional perspective was further strengthened by the participation of Joey Benter, Regional Director of DTI MIMAROPA, alongside Rudy Mariposque, Assistant Regional Director (ARD) of DTI MIMAROPA, underscoring the event’s role not only as a technical exercise, but as a coordinated regional effort toward coffee development.

For the cupping, Marinduque brought two Robusta coffee samples representing distinct growing areas in the province: Robusta from Puyog, Boac and Robusta from Malibago, Torrijos. These were cupped alongside at least ten coffee samples from across the MIMAROPA region, representing different provinces and coffee varieties. In this wider regional context, the Marinduque samples allowed the province to take part meaningfully in the profiling process and to begin situating its coffees within the broader sensory map of MIMAROPA.

Participants from Marinduque during the Public Coffee Cupping for MIMAROPA Coffee, held at Sinag Coffee Roastery and Café in Oriental Mindoro. Coming from different parts of the province, the group represented farmers, cooperatives, enterprises, and institutions, bringing with them local coffee samples shaped by distinct growing conditions and production realities.

From the cupping table, the gathering reflected a shared moment of learning and exchange. Set alongside coffees from across the MIMAROPA region, Marinduque’s participation became part of a wider conversation on quality, identity, and place—grounding the province’s coffee journey within a broader regional context.

Learning the Discipline of Cupping

Beyond participation and representation, the event also served as a hands on learning experience. Participants were guided through what coffee cupping is, why it matters, and how standard cupping protocols are used globally to ensure consistency, repeatability, and fairness in evaluating coffee quality. Discussions covered flavor perception, the influence of processing methods, and how roast level can either reveal or mask a coffee’s inherent character.

During the cupping session, participants collectively graded the coffee samples using structured sensory protocols, applying standardized criteria rather than personal preference. Representatives from Marinduque took part in evaluating not only their own samples, but also coffees from other provinces across the MIMAROPA region, placing each cup in a shared comparative context.

The exercise surfaced a range of profile characteristics and, more importantly, deepened understanding of how farming practices, processing choices, and roasting decisions shape sensory outcomes in the cup. As a shared learning experience, the cupping reinforced the role of structured evaluation as a practical tool for improving quality, consistency, and decision‑making across the value chain.

This also reinforced a key realization: cupping is not about declaring a coffee “good” or “bad,” but about understanding what it is, how it behaves, and what interventions—on farm, in processing, or in roasting, can meaningfully improve its expression.

Understanding Coffee as Identity

During the cupping session, coffees from different provinces were graded and profiled, revealing distinct characteristics shaped by terroir, variety, and post-harvest practices. These profiles do more than describe taste; they create identity.

When a coffee’s profile is known and repeatable, it gains a name, a reputation, and a place in the market. More importantly, that identity reflects back on the farmers and communities who nurture it, turning anonymous produce into a product with origin, story, and value.

This was the quiet but powerful lesson of the cupping: knowledge transforms commodities into heritage.

Looking Beyond the Cup: A Future for Marinduque Coffee

While the event focused on evaluating coffees from across MIMAROPA, it inevitably prompted deeper reflection, particularly for us Marinduqueños. Beyond the tables, spoons, and score sheets, one question lingered:

What does this future look like for Marinduque?

The answer is already beginning to take shape.

Sample No. 1: Robusta coffee from Barangay Malibago, Torrijos, prepared and evaluated during the public cupping session.

Sample No. 3: Robusta coffee from Puyog Coffee Farmers, Boac, representing a distinct growing area within Marinduque.

Vian and Nickel of Coffeesentials, participating in the cupping session and contributing to the evaluation and discussion of MIMAROPA coffee samples.

Kaluppâ’s Groundwork in Coffee Development

Kaluppâ’s participation in the cupping was not incidental. It is the result of deliberate, long-term investment in coffee development:

In 2024, Kaluppâ planted 2,000 Liberica coffee trees across 2 hectares, signaling a commitment to varietal diversity and long-horizon farming.
Kaluppâ operates a Barista School, registered as a TESDA-recognized Technical Vocational Institution, strengthening competencies not just in brewing, but in coffee appreciation, quality control, and market readiness. Kaluppâ also functions as a farm school and a DA–ATI Learning Site for Agriculture, reinforcing practical learning in coffee production, post-harvest handling, and enterprise-oriented skills development.
Kaluppâ is also the beneficiary of the DTI MIMAROPA Coffee Roastery Shared Service Facility (SSF), positioning Marinduque to move further up the value chain, from production to roasting and profiling.

Together, these initiatives align farming, processing, and skills development into a single ecosystem, one that can meaningfully respond to opportunities revealed by events like the public cupping.

Liberica coffee seedlings prepared for planting with TESDA Agriculture scholars, combining hands‑on training with on‑farm learning.

Coffee planting activities with local youth and volunteers, marking the beginning of a slow, collective process from seedling to cup.

A young Liberica coffee plant established in the field, part of Kaluppâ’s long‑term investment in varietal diversity and future production.

The Scale of Marinduque’s Coffee Potential

While the public cupping focused on sensory evaluation and learning across MIMAROPA, existing data from DTI Marinduque provides a clear picture of the province’s production base. These figures affirm what many local farmers already know: Marinduque has scale.

Across the province, there are 12 coffee‑farming barangays distributed across all six municipalities. Current records indicate approximately 24,345 coffee trees planted in Marinduque. Boac accounts for the largest share with around 6,902 trees, followed by Buenavista (6,406) and Torrijos (6,042). Sta. Cruz and Mogpog contribute an estimated 2,610 and 1,991 trees respectively, while Gasan, though smaller in scale, remains part of the province’s overall production landscape. (Data Source: DTI Marinduque CFIDP 2025 Research)

On the farmer side, several hundred coffee farmers are currently engaged across the province, with Buenavista hosting the highest concentration and other municipalities, such as Boac, Torrijos, Mogpog, and Sta. Cruz, showing steady and balanced participation.

Taken together, these figures point to one important conclusion: the production foundation for Marinduque coffee is already in place.

In time, that readiness becomes everyday experience: a customer orders a cup at a local café, enjoys it, and asks, “Masarap ito. Imported ba? Saan galing?” The barista smiles and replies, “Marinduque coffee po. Farmed, harvested, and processed dito mismo sa Marinduque.”

Linking Production to Market

Equally important were insights into demand and market linkages. Among identified coffee shops in the province, a significant majority already use roasted beans regularly, with combined a clearly established and growing monthly demand among reporting coffee shops, dominated by Arabica and Robusta, with Liberica beginning to enter the conversation.

This signals an opportunity not just for volume, but for intentional positioning: local coffee for local markets, differentiated by profile, story, and quality.

At present, small quantities of Marinduque green coffee beans (GCB) are roasted using traditional kawa roasting methods, reflecting accessibility and long standing household practices among coffee producers. Some producers have also begun working with small batch roasters through third party roasting partners, allowing for better control over roast development, consistency, and flavor expression. These parallel practices reflect a transition shaped not only by tools, but by patience, learning, and steady effort, where tradition and emerging technical capacity coexist as Marinduque’s local coffee system continues to mature.

At the heart of this work are people. Farmers, processors, roasters, institutions, cafés, and consumers all have a role to play, through curiosity, care, and everyday choices, in deepening understanding and appreciation of locally grown coffee. Progress does not happen all at once; it builds cup by cup, season by season, through shared hope, hard work, and a growing belief that Marinduque coffee is worth knowing well.

Looking ahead, conversations during the event, particularly those shared by DTI MIMAROPA ARD Rudy Mariposque, pointed to a future stage where Marinduque coffee can be more precisely and confidently named. As systems mature, this may include scientific and technical measures such as isotope analysis, clearer origin identification at the barangay or farm level, and consistent profiling that links place, process, and flavor. These steps are not immediate requirements, but markers of readiness, signaling when Marinduque coffee can be presented to the market with clarity, credibility, and a clearly defined identity.

Kaluppâ Founder Dr. Romulo Bacorro and Executive Director Rafael Seño during a 2024 visit to Sinag Café, with Ran Quijano and Paul Bañas, observing roasting workflows and café operations as part of Kaluppâ’s learning engagements.

Eli Natividad of Farm to Cup Philippines demonstrates the traditional kawa roasting process during one of Kaluppâ’s Advanced Coffee Series sessions, highlighting accessible, small‑batch roasting practices.

Green coffee beans (GCB) from Puyog, Boac, representing Marinduque’s local on‑farm production before roasting and profiling.

From Learning to Vision

The public cupping in Oriental Mindoro was a grounded learning experience that helped clarify where Marinduque coffee currently stands. It reinforced that the coffee is already here, rooted in place and practice, and now waits only for continued attention, refinement, and connection to the market.

For Marinduque, the message is clear:

We already grow coffee.
We already have farmers.
We are building capacity in processing, roasting, and skills.

What comes next is intentional identity-building: knowing our coffee well enough to let it speak for itself.

At the close of the cupping session, the Marinduque delegation left not just better informed, but more convinced than ever that this work is part of the province’s future, built patiently through real effort, shared learning, and steady care. One cup at a time, one profile at a time, we are learning how to tell Marinduque’s coffee story together.

And if you’re still reading this, we appreciate it. It likely means you care, about where coffee comes from, about the people behind it, and about what it takes to build something good, slowly and together.