By Francheska Griño
A local coffee brand owner warned people against buying from fake “locally sourced” coffee bean suppliers that trick people into thinking they are helping local farmers.
The CEO and founder of Abino Coffee, Sophia Abino, shared her experience as a victim of fake local coffee beans suppliers during an online webinar about starting a business.
As she encountered the issue about coffee beans labeled as ‘Sagada Coffee’, even though it is not proven to be from Sagada, Abino started to examine the problem.
“Upon my investigation, sabi ng mga experts, we only have smallholders coffee farmers sa Sagada, so kung kaunti lang yung coffee farmers at kaunti lang yung coffee farms, how come na ang daming supply na halos hindi na nauubos?,” she stated.
After further investigating and asking her supplier, Abino started to suspect that she was also one of those who sold fake local coffee beans.
“You know what, they cannot even give me a straight answer where or who, kung saan o kanino sinu-source,” she said upon immediately contacting her supplier after distinguishing the issue.
Abino expressed how it hinders people from savoring authentic Sagada coffee and how it makes them think they are supporting local farmers in buying it.
“Impact nun, wala naman pa lang bumibili sa kanila (local farmers), wala naman pa lang (sumusuporta) sa kanila. But online, a lot of people are thinking that we are supporting them, but not,” she added with dismay as the issue greatly impacts local farmers.
Now, the CEO had no regrets when she immediately stopped selling all their ‘Sagada’ coffee despite inventory loss, believing that it is not who she is and that the image of her business also reflects her personality.
