[2019-May-18] Basic Manual Coffee Brewing Workshop

With all the new ‘excitement’ and anticipation we see for establishments offering drink varieties other than coffee (some coffee places and fastfoods even started to include milk teas in their menu!), coffee and coffee places seemed to have been relegated to the background.

Though I also like and drink tea, I have always prefered coffee. From ‘kapeng bigas’, to ‘kapeng barako and the different varieties of instant coffee plus the 3-in-1’s. This one reason why I was glad to be able to participate in the “Basic Manual Coffee Brewing Workshop” that was conducted at Institute for Coffee Excellence located at Sheridan corner Pines Mandaluyong City.

I arrived early (thankfully before the light rain fell) so I had time to take some photos of the place.

Some of the manual brewing ‘equipment’.

Also the mememto from Michael Harris Lim’s participation in the World Barista Championship in Boston where he became the first Filipino to reach the semi-finals.

The second floor which is the regular venue to the teaching sessions.

Some equipment on the first floor.

Now to the workshop itself. Our instructor was Argenel “Argie” Vegas. Argie placed 3rd in the 2019 Philippine Brewers Cup.

Topview of some of the equipment used during the workshop.

Argie in action showing us how to use the Aeropress

The “Graduates”.

After the workshop, we were allowed to see the area/equipment they use to make the ‘engineered milk’

All attendees were also given a freshly made (day prior to the workshop) Midnight Blend variety of The Barista’s Choice ground coffee.

I enjoyed the workshop and also learned new things.

We were also able to practice what we learned. The group was divided into 3 and was each tasked to brew using the equipment of their choice. All chose the V60 seemingly because it is the less complicated of the three that were demonstrated to us (Syphon & Aeropress was the other two). Since our group was the last to brew, we learned from the experiences of the first two groups so we seemed to have brewed the best coffee according to Argie’s comments (At least the way I heard it, haha)

To learn more about the institute, visit their website coffeeexcellence.org

We were also served luch at their partner restaurant “The Giving Cafe”. Click here for details