06/09/2026
🇵🇭 Reflections from the Southeast Asian Green (SEA Green) Coffee Competition National Round in the Philippines.
This year’s event took us to Valencia City, hosted beautifully by the incredible team at .montesclaros.ranch . Our Director of Coffee, .choi__ , had the honor of serving as the head judge, with our founder, Eric Dobbs, joining a brilliant panel of coffee professionals to evaluate the Arabica categories.
To be blunt: many of the coffees we tasted completely challenged the static notions often associated with Philippine origin.
But the most exciting part of the week wasn’t just watching the scores go up on the board. It was witnessing a rapidly growing movement of coffees that are actively expanding the conversation around Philippine specialty coffee—revealing taste profiles, processing quality, and structural possibilities that many of us simply haven’t considered before.
Huge congratulations to all of the winners and participants. It was an absolute privilege to taste your hard work and witness the immense progress being made across every single category.
A special thank you to and the entire MM team for your flawless hospitality in hosting this year’s competition. And immense gratitude to .choi__ , .ministryofroasters , and for dedicating the time and vision to build a platform that gives smallholder producers the stage they earn. These are coffees that truly deserve to be seen, tasted, and celebrated on a global scale. ☕️🌋
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