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This is the provincial life like you've never seen before.
This is the provincial life like you've never seen before.
| Start: | Feb 29, '08 5:00p |
| Start: | Feb 28, '08 11:00p |
| Start: | Feb 27, '08 2:00p |
A get-together for a pre-summer R&R...
WATCH THIS NOW!!!
Coffee Facts
BBC News, Manila |
The Philippines has recently discovered it produces one of the world's most expensive and coveted kinds of coffee. 
Beans for a unique cup of coffee
But it comes from an unusual source - the droppings of a nocturnal, cat-like animal called the palm civet.
Civets, related to the mongoose, are usually seen as pests in the Philippines and hunted for their meat.
But their droppings are worth their weight in gold.
Known locally as alamid, civets are carnivorous but they also have a taste for the sweet, red coffee cherries that contain the beans.
The beans pass through the civet whole after fermenting in the stomach and that's what gives the coffee its unique taste and aroma.
'Best-kept secret'
A group of professional coffee lovers followed the trail of the civet droppings high into the Malarayat mountain range, south of Manila, in search of the exotic beans.
One of them, Antonio Reyes of the Philippine coffee certifying board, said civet coffee was one of the Philippines' best-kept secrets. 
Civets are seen as pests in the Philippines
"I heard the old folks in the coffee farming areas have been gathering this coffee for their own consumption. They never told people they had this kind of coffee," he said.
"It goes through some kind of natural processing which you can see from the roasted beans. It's more oily, there's more aroma and it's such a good taste that you can get value for money even if the cost is so high."
Civet coffee is one of the world's most expensive. In the Philippines, only 500 kg are produced a year and the roasted beans sell for more than $115 a kilogram.
Bean hunt
Lusina Montenegro, who collects the beans for a living, led the coffee experts to the civet droppings.
She climbs the mountain in her flip-flops, hunting for the beans in the thick undergrowth. 
Finding and preparing the beans is labour-intensive work
"Sometimes it's a big civet and then the droppings are also big, but sometimes it's a small one and then the droppings are small," she said.
Ms Montenegro puts the droppings in two containers - for the old ones, which resemble chalky beans, and for the fresh ones, which look like yellow beans in gravy.
She rinses the beans in forest streams and dries them on her patio before they are sold on to Bote Central, a company that exports the beans to Japan.
Niche market
The developers of the brand are a husband and wife team, Vie and Basil Reyes.
The couple was involved in conservation work for the sugar palm and the civets that live among the trees. They made organic vinegar from the palms and started selling the civet coffee alongside it in small bazaars.
Now the coffee has become so successful they are hoping to start brewing up profits in Taiwan and North America.
Mr Reyes of the coffee certifying agency also hopes the struggling local coffee industry can mirror the success Indonesia and Vietnam have enjoyed with their brands of civet coffee.
"I never thought it was also available in the Philippines, so when I first heard of it I thought this is one kind of coffee that we can look at and develop," he said. "If we have the volume then it's good for the niche market."
'Dark chocolate'
Andrew Gross, an Australian roast master, climbed the mountain to find out for himself what the attraction is of coffee that passes through the backside of a furry mammal.
Just like a wine connoisseur, he slowly slurped the brewed coffee, letting it travel across his tongue for the first time. 
Mr Gross said the coffee had 'some substance'
Mr Gross said he was surprised at how much he liked it, comparing the taste to fermented plum and dark chocolate with hazelnuts.
"There's obviously some substance to this in terms of what waves I am getting, but beyond the difference in flavours a lot of it has to do with hype and a lot of it has to do with the fact that it's fairly rare," he said.
It may not be everyone's cup of tea. But experts here hope coffee lovers will want to treat themselves to something special that might just help perk up the Philippine coffee industry.
CHECK THIS OUT: http://alamidcafe.com/faq.php
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Man, those one-year-old Havies sure have seen better days!
Bow, chicka, bow-wow
That's what my baby says
Mow, mow, mow
And my heart starts pumpin'
Chicka, chicka, chew-op
Never gonna stop
Gitchi-gitchi-goo means that I love you
I said a...
Bow, chicka, bow-wow
That's what my baby says
Mow, mow, mow
And my heart starts pumpin'
Chicka, chicka, chew-op
Never gonna stop
Gitchi-gitchi-goo means that I love you
Gitchi-gitchi-goo means that I love you
Gitchi-gitchi-goo means that I love you
Baby, baby, baby (baby, baby, baby, baby)
Gitchi-gitchi-goo means that I love you
It’s a vicious cycle! For almost a decade it has been my question as to why people drink and then later regret having done so… and yet still drink again. Maybe it’s your question, too. It’s everybody’s question I guess. Tonight, I had the delight of getting a whiff of the sweet smell of brandy and being intoxicated as well. It had been a good month since my last swig of alcohol and it should have been a New Year’s resolution, had it not been broken tonight. And so here I am, after only 3 hours of shut eye, awaken by hunger and thirst. Or maybe it was Banggoy that woke me up. I don’t know. The spirit has not left me even after a bowl of instant noodles and a sip of Coke.
The Chinese channel is on TV right now and the more I can’t think straight with all the foreign language chatter. Why not turn it off? Because it’s almost 4 a.m. and I’m too chicken shit to be here at my work station in dead silence. So where was I?
What I’m really going to write is this. The reason why I drink is not because I’m depressed, cannot sleep easily, or am really an alcoholic. (Take that Lindsay Lohan!) I drink to be intoxicated… For the mere pleasure of a head-spinning intoxication. I love rhum. I adore brandy. I crave for absinthe. And I wallow in good old beer. Yes, that’s the spirit. And I must admit; it really helps to sleep faster for someone who has to count backwards from 500 down just to doze off to Slumber Land. So you see, getting drunk has its perks. But alas, for someone who has not mastered the art of drinking, will have to suffer the consequences. That being a mother-loving hangover. Even though I might call myself a “seasoned drinker”, I still stock up on Gatorade. For even the skilled of all drinkers, succumbs to dehydration. (Tip: Consuming alcohol after a heavy meal is less likely to produce visible signs of intoxication than consumption on an empty stomach.) I have also learned not to indulge in any kind of seafood for pulutan.
How do I deal with hangover? Drink moderately. As my grandfather and mom always say, "Prevention is better than cure." I drink and let it settle in my stomach, and not let it go to my head. I think that’s the very reason why people get into all sorts of trouble when they get drunk. They let the spirit control them. Obviously, they haven’t mastered the art. I’m no whiz at this but, certainly, I have the acumen to be decent enough. Well, enough to get my ass home and to bed safely. Heck! No matter how soused I am, I do make it a point to brush my teeth… even if it means I have to crawl to the sink. And just in case the hangover gets me when I wake up, it’s wise keeping in mind that a lot of caffeine will get me through it. (Read: An ice cold Coke will do!) What I can’t figure out is how to get that awful (after) taste when you’ve had too much hard liquor. It’s that kind of taste that makes me feel like I’m a fire-breathing dragon for an entire day. And as much as I don’t want to say it, alcohol doesn’t just make me feel like crap but it really makes me crap a shitload. How gross is that? Well, piss off! Why are you *still* reading this anyway?
Now don’t envision me as your regular tambay who starts drinking at a sari-sari store in the middle of an afternoon. Well, I can be if you want but I can drink socially, too. Although, I prefer to drink at home where the toilet doesn’t resemble a pool of puke. Eeeuu… That’s really not something I want to talk about. YUCK!
That just reminded me of the times I’ve been wasted. The times when I would swear NEVER AGAIN will I be under the influence. The times where… Okay, that’s a different story now. I guess I’ll write about that some other time. And if there’s one thing worth celebrating while living in this ***-forsaken country, it is that fact that there is no legal age to booze it up. Hell, yeah! Cheers to that!
⋆✌㋡⋆ 陳美西
This is the provincial life like you've never seen before.
