PH Barista Champion Builds a Coffee School for the Filipinos
May 04, 2019PH Barista Champion Builds a Coffee School for the Filipinos
Michael Harris Lim, the 2019
Philippine National Barista Champion and the first Filipino to make it to the
semi-finals of the World Barista Championship in Boston, USA, opens the
Institute for Coffee Excellence, an educational institution committed to developing
a variety of educational initiatives that focuses on instilling positive
values that will help grow and excel as coffee professionals.
After successfully sharing
his advocacies in the international stage, Harris continues to carry out his
life’s work of creating a fully-sustainable coffee economy and takes another
step towards realizing this vision—by officially opening the Institute for
Coffee Excellence.
Since he first ventured in
the coffee business in 2001, he has been committed in providing solutions to
elevate the quality of local crops and equip the Filipino farmers with tools
and knowledge to help them keep up with the evolving industry. But through the
competitions, Harris was able to see the industry in the perspective of a
barista which made him realize that they also needed training in delivering the
best coffee experience. As he stated, “This journey has inspired me to create a
space to nurture the baristas and our Filipino coffee farmers.” Thus, he built
the Institute for Coffee Excellence to have its thrust work at both ends of the
spectrum: for farmers and baristas.
Harris envisions the
institute as an instrument in fostering a community that works together for total
sustainability to achieve the ultimate goal of having an increasingly steady
food and coffee security for the Philippines and for the future generations to
come. “The
transformation of a community begins with education. In the case of our coffee
community, I believe we would have to start by empowering our farmers and
baristas with the knowledge, values and passion to work towards a beautiful
coffee future,” he shares.
Prior to his participation in
the national and world competitions, Harris makes vigorous effort in extending
a helping hand to the thriving coffee industry as a social entrepreneur. While
he actively supports coffee-producing communities in Benguet through the
platforms he built such as the Foundation for Sustainable Coffee Excellence
(FSCE) and The Giving Café, his eagerness to create greater initiatives that
will benefit the local industry never ceased.
Driving his inspiration from
the members of the coffee community, he's also aiming to make the Foundation
for Sustainable Coffee Excellence as the country’s National Body licensed by
World Coffee Events to hold the next competitions in 2020.
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