Friday, February 5, 2010

The best coffee now comes in an instant pack

By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

LIPA, Batangas— After serving the Philippine Air Force for 25 years—which meant several brushes with certain death— Alexander Ilagan certainly deserved to sit back and just relax upon his early retirement at 43 years old.

But being idle did not suit the retired sergeant and intelligence officer well. He was just too used to putting in an honest day’s work.

So instead of just lazing about and living on his government pension, Ilagan finally did what he had always wanted to do, which was to put up his own business. And not just any business, but one that involved his beloved Batangas brewed coffee.

“The best coffee still comes from Batangas,” Ilagan declares in Tagalog.

It can be difficult, however, to prepare Batangas coffee the right and the traditional way. You have to boil the water just right, for instance, to bring out the full flavor of Batangas’ Barako beans.

Ilagan says the process could indeed be quite tedious, which is why most settle for instant three-in-one coffee in sachets or coffee from vending machines, thus missing out on the full-bodied flavor of a piping hot cup of Batangas coffee.

Ilagan, who is justifiably proud of his province’s coffee, then asked himself how he could make it easier for most Filipinos to have their fix of Batangas style of coffee.

He pondered over this question during his last 10 years of service in the military and his big break came one fateful day when the serious coffee drinker found himself drinking herbal tea that promised him good health.

“I realized it was so easy to drink the tea because you just put the bag in hot water. Then I said to myself, this is the solution to the problem! I should also put coffee in a bag,” says Ilagan, who drinks about eight cups a day of Barako coffee.

To actually do so, however, is much more complicated than just putting ground coffee in tea bags, as Ilagan found out to his chagrin after going full time into his fledgling business.

“First, I had to find the right kind of bags for the coffee, then I had to find a way to properly seal the bags because they burned easily. Then, the most difficult part of all was to come up with the right mix of ground coffee to make sure I can provide that unique Batangas taste,” says Ilagan, who credits his wife, Merlita and their three children for inspiring him to pursue his passion.

Ilagan, now 58, would shut himself in a room and come up with his own concoctions during his early days as an entrepreneur, guided only by his instincts and taste for Batangas coffee that he has been drinking for as long as he can remember.

“I would experiment with different types and mixtures. Sometimes, I would find myself waking up in the middle of the night to try a new combination. I had to go through a lot of trial and error,” says Ilagan, who admits that there were many challenges along the way that almost made him quit.

Even his family had their doubts about the future of his business. After all, the idea of putting coffee grounds in a teabag had not been tested in Batangas. His unshakeable belief in his idea, however, pushed him to carry on.

When Ilagan came up with the combinations that passed his own taste, he had the older folk of Lipa—who certainly knew their coffee—taste them.

The mixture that got the most votes eventually became the basis for Xandro’s Food Repacking, which came into being in his backyard in Villa Monica Subdivision, Lipa City Batangas in 2005.

“I just had two people when I started. I did almost everything and sold the coffee myself, bringing them to bank employees and doctors, encouraging them to give the coffee a try,” Ilagan says, “Because they liked the taste, the orders started coming in.”

Thus, from producing just a few bags of coffee three days a month, Xandro’s now produces 100 boxes or 1,000 bags of coffee a day.

Xandro’s—which comes in Original 2 in 1 (coffee and sugar) Puro (no sugar) and Premium (with muscovado or raw sugar)—are distributed in different outlets such as Hotel Pontefino in Batangas, Rowena’s in Tagaytay City and the showrooms of the Departments of Trade and Industry and Agriculture.

His own children are his best sales and marketing people, bringing boxes of coffee for sale in their offices in Manila. Their collective effort, he says, has allowed them to earn a good profit and save enough to buy a commercial vehicle and improve their home.

Ilagan has even been recognized by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship, through its Go Negosyo campaign, as one of the most notable entrepreneurs in Batangas and one of the country’s most inspiring microentrepreneurs.

“The award really surprised me. I did not expect that I would be recognized along with other people who had so much bigger enterprises than mine,” says Ilagan, whose trophy from Go Negosyo occupies a special place in his home, inspiring him to do even more.

Ilagan says he was happy that after four years, Xandro’s is now making an impact on the country’s growing coffee market, if only for the fact that the additional demand gives the Batangas farmers more reason to plant coffee again instead of other crops such as rice and sugar.

Ilagan goes around the coffee farms in Batangas himself and buys the best cherries from the farmers at a price higher than that offered by most traders. And he tells them he would buy more so they should produce more.

“I really want to help the farmers because we should not lose our tradition with coffee. There is still nothing like coffee from Batangas,” says Ilagan.

As for competition, Ilagan says copycats have already sprouted since they could also see the potential of brewed coffee in tea bags.

But he remains unfazed.

“They could all copy my idea, but I can guarantee that it will not taste the same,” says Ilagan with a grin, “If they could answer why I use three different grinders to prepare my coffee, then I’ll start getting concerned.”