Most people know about Jollibee, the Philippine fast-food chain that dared compete with and beat McDonald's at its own game. Now an upstart beverage chain wants to be the Jollibee of coffee.
To most outsiders, the words 'Philippines' and 'coffee' usually do not mix easily. But Pacita Juan, the president and chief executive of Figaro Coffee, thinks otherwise.
'The first step is to have Philippine barako certified and to sell it as organic coffee,' Ms Juan says.
Naturland, a German coffee bean certifier, is in the process of officially stating native barako as a Philippine organic coffee. It will directly compete with the African brands.
'The Barako', which they plan to sell as Asian coffee, is perhaps the only familiar coffee bean from the Philippines.
'We are so poor, we're organic by default,' says Ms Juan. 'Most barako bean growers cannot afford fertilisers, so what we have is organic coffee.
