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February 08, 2011

CAFE ALAMID XPRESS

CIVET COFFEE NOW BREWING IN MANILA!

Café Alamid Xpress opens its first freestanding café in Metro Manila!

For Immediate Release: Alamid Café Xpress officially opens its doors on February 8, 2011 at the Recreational Outdoor eXchange (R.O.X.) in B1 Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City, Philippines. The café introduces the internationally sought after Civet Coffee to the Philippine market, a beverage touted by many to be both the world’s best and most expensive coffee selling at up to USD 100.00 per cup worldwide. Although Alamid Café Xpress sells its world-renowned brew at a more reasonable price, the quality and the taste proves that it is the same Civet coffee that coffee connoisseurs worldwide are buzzing about.

Alamid Café Xpress is a reflection of its parent company’s business philosophy of working with communities throughout the process of producing its coffee from the soil to the trees to the cup. Alamid Café Xpress represents a vibrant and active community of people celebrating the adventurous lifestyles that they lead or more so, a social network of real people bound together by a café that believes in its advocacy to fairly source, process and promote Alamid Coffee.

Alamid Café Xpress is owned by Basil and Vie Reyes who started out in the coffee business because of vinegar. The couple was working with a community of vinegar collectors when they learned that the same palm tree where Arengga Vinegar comes from also serves as a habitat for the local Civet called the Alamid. The first batch of Civet Coffee that Basil and Vie processed was just 5 kilos, harvested by one of the vinegar collectors for them as a sample, and sold out immediately. The following harvest season, Basil and Vie were able to collect almost 20 kilos, which was likewise sold out in no time.

Alamid Café Xpress is the product of long years of hard work by its owners, who at one time approached key players in the local coffee industry for assistance but were turned down. Instead of giving up, the couple behind Alamid Coffee struck out on their own to market the unique coffee through participation in trade fairs with the help of Center for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI). The brand started by attending Advocate for Philippine Fair Trade Inc. (APFTI) and Centre for International Trade and Exhibitions (CITEM) where it garnered top awards for product excellence. The buzz generated at those two events helped pave the way for Alamid Coffee’s participation in international trade fairs in Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Brazil, Thailand, and Korea. Successful exposure at those fairs resulted in Alamid Coffee signing up its first international distributor in Japan in 2004 followed by Korea.

Over the years, Alamid Coffee has worked with communities of coffee farmers witnessing first hand the imbalance in the coffee supply chain. As a result, it has become a part of Coffee Alamid’s advocacy and commitment to create a fair trade environment where coffee farmers can benefit from their own product. In line with its philosophy, Alamid Coffee began producing its own roasting machines, which it has installed in community-roasting facilities in 14 unique sites throughout the Philippines from Sagada to Jolo – three of which were funded by DED (German Development Service). The community-roasting facilities enable farmers to earn more from the coffee they work so hard to harvest by allowing them to process it themselves.

Since its modest beginnings, Alamid Coffee has been featured internationally on National Geographic, the BBC, New York Times, German Television, and Fuji News among many others.

 

 

In addition to the publicity, Alamid Coffee has slowly built up it presence by setting up “18 Days Coffee” roasters in supermarkets and a small coffee shop in the Insular Building in Alabang, Muntinlupa City in order to test a business concept that brewing coffee for the Filipino community can be a viable business.

Recently, R.O.X., a member of the Primer Group of Companies and currently Southeast Asia’s biggest outdoor superstore, opened its doors to let more people experience Alamid coffee right at the center of its bustling flagship store. R.O.X., who has been at the forefront of adventure and tourism, is also bent on promoting a unique coffee concept.

 

 

 

“Alamid Café Express is truly a welcome addition to our store. We feel that the café would provide our customers a more holistic shopping experience while advocating programs for our local coffee farmers. It is a novel way in getting your usual coffee fix, ” says Ruby Palma , Assistant Vice President of R.O.X.

Alamid Coffee is slowly becoming the trusted name in Philippine Civet Coffee along with its line of “Origins Blend Coffee,” which include: Arabica coffee from Mt. Barlig of Mountain Province in the Cordillera and Mt. Matutum of South Cotabato in Mindanao, Liberica from Mt. Halcon in Oriental Mindoro, Exelsa from Mt. Banahaw in Quezon Province, and Robusta from Maragusan, Compostela Valley in Mindanao.

For additional information, please visit Alamid Coffee’s website at: www.alamidcafexpress.com.

About The Primer Group of Companies
The Primer Group of Companies was founded in 1985 and is in the business of distributing, retailing and licensing consumer and industrial products in the Philippines through its affiliates. The Primer Group is composed of three major business groups: Consumer products such as footwear, apparel, bags, luggage, accessories, etc., Industrial Products, and Consumer Services. With close to 100 freestanding / proprietarily owned stores, the Primer Group of Companies’ corporate vision is to become the leader in the global distribution and innovation of premium goods and services.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Alamid Café Xpress: B1, Bonifacio Highstreet, Taguig City
Bote Central Office: Graceful cor. Menchie Street, BF Almanza Las Piñas, Philippines

Vie Reyes: +63.917.812.4477 / basil@arengga.com
Paolo Reyes: +63.917.854.9916 / paolo_reyes@arengga.com
Rachelle Red – Marketing: +63.917.855.7052 / rachelle_r@arengga.com

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