DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Davao City’s coffee scene is set for a boost this October with two events: the Davao Coffee Crawl and Davao Coffee Fest.
Now on its fifth year, the Davao Coffee Crawl will run nearly the entire month, from Oct. 5 to 31 participated by 15 cafes. The Davao Coffee Fest will run three days, from Oct. 9 to 11.
The Davao Coffee Crawl
The Coffee Crawl began in 2021 as an effort by the coffee shop community to revive the coffee scene after the pandemic lockdowns. Since then, the event has helped coffee aficionados to discover cafes in different areas.
“In the previous years, nakatabang gyud siya (it was a big help), it allowed coffee shops to reach a wider market,” said RJ Lumawag, the event co-organizer and Hid’n Coffee co-manager.
For this fifth edition, a journaling event, will serve as pre-launch activity on Sept. 27.
Activities scheduled for the Oct. 3 launch include coffee cupping and workshops on content creation and digital marketing. The venue of this event will be announced later.
This year’s crawl will move beyond its usual sticker-card collection format. Customers can collect stickers through 15 postcards featuring artwork from each participating cafe.
Participants, known as crawlers, may visit one cafe or several in a day. Those who receive a crawl card will also get coupons and vouchers even without completing the full crawl of 15 coffees shops.
The Davao Coffee Fest
This coffee fest, now in its third year, will gather members of the coffee community Oct. 9 to 11 for workshops, barista competitions and a showcase of local roasting stores.
Event secretariat Mina Limbaga, said the festival draws attention to the coffee supply chain including farmers, market conditions and agricultural factors.
Where farmers fit in
For Byrne Al-ag, owner of Beholden Coffee Experience, one of the cafes joining the Coffee Crawl, growing interest in coffee has opened the market to higher quality beans, known as specialty coffee.
“Because of the rise of specialty coffee, the rise of niche market in coffee, we are now seeing farmers selling their green coffees for P500 per kilo to up to P1,000 per kilo, or if not, more,” Al-ag said.
He linked the shift to the growth of specialty coffee and said micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are also benefiting from the expanding market.
Leo XL Fuentes, Mindanao coordinator of Masipag, cautioned that promoting small farmers does not automatically generate increased demand.
Fuentes said out inflation leads consumers to prioritize spending on basic food, and noted that long-standing agricultural problems such as land ownership disputes and lack of capital should also be addressed.
“Promotion should go beyond marketing and address structural challenges in agriculture,” he said.
Lumawag acknowledged that cafe owners face pressures such as rising costs, the need to broaden their market and balancing customer preferences.
He cited increasing prices of supplies and ingredients, labor costs and government regulations among the burdens facing small businesses.
The issue carries particular weight in Mindanao, which accounts for 83.63% of the country’s coffee production, according to the 2021-2025 Philippine Coffee Industry Roadmap cited by the Department of Agriculture. The agency also noted that only 15% of coffee producers are self-sufficient, underscoring the gap between domestic production and consumption. (davaotoday.com)
