Kapeng Barako brews strong black business

Jose "Joe" Mercado, Chairman of Merlo

 the biggest name in Batangas Coffee...

BARAKO!

LIPA CITY-  "I drink coffee to live and live to drink coffee," Merlo Agricultural Corp. (Merlo) chair Jose Mercado said, drinking his sixth cup of Batangas brewed coffee for that day.

But that is not enough. There will be more cups of coffee as the day wears on.

From a mere P3,000 capital in 1974, Mercado built his coffee business that has placed the name of Batangas in the map of the world's coffee importers.

Merlo, now the biggest name in freshly brewed Batangas coffee business, has penetrated the United States, Canada, Singapore and the Middle East, making Lipa City's Kapeng Barako the sought-after coffee of most five-star hotels and restaurants.

Coffee family

The first coffee tree in the country was planted in Pinagtung-Ulan, in this city by the Macasaet clan, Mercado's great, great, great grandparents, in the 1800s.

Thus, Merlo's history spans hundreds of years of a family tradition in coffee-blending and roasting that made the company's coffee a distinction in the industry.

"I was born in a coffee sack under a coffee tree," Mercado said.

His father, Macario, also started young in the coffee business. Mercado said his father started his business by buying coffee beans from farmers and selling roasted coffee beans to the market.

He got a profit of five centavos per gallon. He was in that business from the time he was still single until he got married and raised a family.

"We are eight children in the family and our father was able to send all of us in college through his coffee business," Mercado said.

Like his father, he, too, was able to raise his family with the help of his coffee business.

Hardwork

"I have three secret ingredients for success," Mercado said, "it's hardwork, hardwork and hardwork."

In 1970, his father bought a coffee bean roaster. Mercado worked for him for P200 a month salary. Saving his money, Mercado later decided to buy and sell his own coffee.

With only P3,000 in his pocket, he ventured into his own business and sold coffee in Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, La Union, Pangasinan and Ilocos Sur.

That time, he delivered coffee twice a month with 50 sacks in his rented truck for two years.

In 1974, he leased his wife's aunt's 24-hectare coconut plantation and planted coffee and lansones. That same year, he put up Merlo Enterprises.

Merlo was the combination of his family name and his wife's surname, Ligaya Lopez.

Later, they were able to buy the land they leased. Like, his father, Mercado also utilized his family's help. Ligaya, a former teacher, also helped in the business.

All of their children also helped. The business grew and diversified into poultry, poultry supplies, piggery and imported animal health products.

In 1978, Merlo Enterprises became a corporation, with family members as incorporators.

Merlo constructed its coffee and office buildings in Morada Avenue, Lipa City in 1980.

Two years later, they started to export the Batangas coffee.

Secret blend

What has made Cafe de Lipa, Batangas Brew, and Kapeng Barako sought-after coffee brands is the Mercado family's secret blend of coffee beans and roasting technique. 

According to his daughter Mayen Mercado-Panganiban, who is now the assistant manager in the coffee division, the aroma, body and flavor of the coffee create its distinct personality.

"Every coffee variety has its own character. We have the Barako, also known as the Liberica, the Robusta, the Exelsa, and the Arabica. What makes our coffee unique is the way we blend and roast the coffee beans," she said, "And that is the family's secret blend for generations now."

Cafe de Lipa was launched in the market in 1990 while Batangas Brew has been in the family for generations now.

Another coffee blend, Ala ey! Kape, started in the late 1990s. Here, one of Mercado's daughters, Jasmin, modeled for the coffee wrapper.

These blends are now in supermarkets nationwide, bringing the taste of true Batangas coffee in every pack.

"We believe that freshness matters. Our coffee is packed in airtight packets immediately after it is grounded," Panganiban added.

This is done to ensure the coffee's freshness and retain its aroma.

"After opening its pack, the coffee should be placed in an airtight container. That way, coffee will not oxidize. The coffee loses its aroma after oxidation," she explained.

Vanishing crop

In 1995, Merlo was forced to stop exporting coffee when the volume dropped. Farmers gradually stopped planting coffee and instead planted pineapple and other crops.

"That's because of overproduction," Mercado said, "In 1986, a kilo of coffee beans cost as high as $4. So more farmers all over the world planted coffee. That time, the price went down by more than 50 percent."

Mercado used to buy coffee beans only from Batangas province. Now he has to travel to Cavite, Quezon, Laguna, Kalinga, and Ifugao provinces to buy coffee beans.

"We used to be in the top five of the coffee exporters worldwide," Mercado recalled. "Now we are importing more than what we used to export," he adds.

Brazil, Vietnam, and Indonesia are now the world's top coffee importer.

"But the good forecast for coffee planters is that it's the best time to plant coffee. Because in a matter of five years, prices will go up again," Mercado

Diversified

When the coffee export went down, Merlo diversified into the piggery, poultry and poultry supplies businesses.

"We have to diversify to other businesses so that when one fails, we still have something to fall back on," Mercado said.

Merlo Agricultural Corp. has now 250 sows in its piggery farm. Last year, it started importing animal health products. One of Merlo's biggest clients now include the province's biggest cooperatives such as the Soro-soro Ibaba Development Corp. and Limcoma, and some of the country's biggest livestock corporations such as Monterey, Foremost Farms and San Miguel.

Mercado said he has also trained all his children to run the businesses.

"It's better if they know how to manage the business and to value hard work. That way, the family's legacy lives on," Mercado said. "I run my family like I run the business."

Merlo has also created jobs in the city with more than 100 employees working in the corporation's businesses.

Kapeng Barako

Batangas coffee owes its authentic taste and aroma to the Mercado family's age-old tradition and secret recipe for blending and roasting coffee beans. The recipe has been handed down from generation to generation.

Kapeng Barako, according to Mercado, got its name from the Batanguenos' strength to drink coffee without anything to go with it such as cookies and pastries.

"Batanguenos can drink strong coffee served without anything else," he said, "that's why we are called barakos. We can take it strong and can still smile."

Kapeng Barako has been the coffee preferred by revolutionaries who were fighting for freedom during the Spanish era.

During the Filipino-American War, it was also the coffee drank by Filipino patriots.

World War II veterans also remember Kapeng Barako as the coffee that raised their spirits during the war.

"That's because drinking Kapeng Barako makes the blood alive and your mind more active," he said, "The soldiers needed the coffee to keep them on the go and raise their adrenalin."

Even now, when people refer to Kapeng Barako, it would always be remembered as the best tasting coffee found only in Batangas. (Philippine Daily Inquirer February 24, 2002 | Copyright

Byline: Mei Magsino, PDI Southern Luzon Bureau)

Photos from www. philippinecoffee.wordpress.com and www. mybusiness.globe.com.ph