MANILA -- Mokhtar Alkhanshali wasn’t supposed to be in the Philippines the first time he visited the country last November.

The CEO of Port of Mokha Coffee was just supposed to conduct a talk via Skype but as fate would have it, he was in Taiwan when the appointment was made and he found out that the Philippines was just a two-hour flight from Taipei. So he flew on over to do his talk in person.

What followed was the start of a continuing collaboration between Alkhanshali and the Philippine coffee company Henry & Sons.

Michael Harris Conlin, CEO of Henry & Sons, first stumbled onto Alkhanshali’s story while he was in Ethiopia preparing for the World Barista Championships. When people heard about Conlin’s vision to put the Philippines back on the global coffee map, they recommended he read David Egger’s book “The Monk of Mokha,” which chronicles Alkhanshali's rise from the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, to investigating why Yemeni coffee was reputed to be the best in the world. It also details his harrowing ride out of the war-torn country to bring out coffee beans that would end up as one of the most expensive and most sought after coffee in the world.

Conlin immediately reached out to the Yemeni after reading the book, hoping to get pointers to do for Philippine coffee what Alkhanshali’s did for Yemeni coffee.

Just months later, Alkhanshali was back in Manila for another talk, which was initially supposed to be held at Conlin's The Institute for Coffee Excellence. But Daniel Ganser, F&B director of the Grand Hyatt Manila, persuaded Conlin to bring Alkhanshali to the hotel instead, where he also held an exclusive cupping session.

Eight varieties of the Port of Mokha beans were presented at the cupping session after the Alkhanshali’s talk. These prized beans, which were auctioned off for as high as US$100 per pound, were sampled by an appreciative group of coffee lovers. The cups of coffee in the session had an amazing range of nuanced flavors from earthy sweet cola, to watermelon, to green apple, to even grape and wine. Alkhanshali even brought teaberries, smaller than usual coffee beans, that were spicy and packed a lot of punch for the size.

In a surprise twist, the cupping team served a coffee made out of “quakers” for the last cup. This was, by their standards, rejects and low-quality coffee. Interestingly enough, what was low quality for this group was already acceptable by normal fast-food standards. The quaker coffee was bland and had no nuance at all. When asked why they did this, Alkhanshali just grinned mischievously and said, “You have to taste good coffee to know bad coffee. And now you know!”

SERIOUS ABOUT COFFEE

Bringing Alkhanshali for an event is just one of the initiatives of the Grand Hyatt to level up the hotel’s coffee game. Besides education and developing its own coffee program, the hotel has been championing Philippine beans.

Normally, big hotel chains would use beans from abroad to fulfill institutional contracts. But at Grand Hyatt Manila, sustainability is a big part of its the F&B department's coffee program. The leadership committee of the Grand Hyatt even went to Benguet three years ago to meet coffee farmers and plant coffee trees, some of which are bearing fruit and being used in hotel today.

“The story grew together with Michael (Conlin) on building the story together with Henry & Sons on a very luxurious coffee offering. And obviously, Mokhtar Alkhanshali, and his story, you know, is just one of many stories we have built so far together with him on the quest of looking for the perfect cup of coffee.,” explained Ganser.

The Grand Hyatt Manila’s coffee shop, Florentine, has a P1-million Slayer espresso machine as its centerpiece while the hotel’s staff take barista courses at The Institute for Coffee Excellence to be able to talk to guests about Philippine single origin coffee, as well as sharpen their skills behind the coffee counter to consistently make espressos, americanos, cappuccinos, and lattes.

The Florentine carries a whole range of Henry & Sons Coffee, of which, the Port of Mokha beans are the crowning jewel. Each purchase of a canister of the Port of Mokha beans includes a paperback signed by Alkhanshali.

The Florentine even has a limited edition Mokha Hazelnut Cake featuring a hazelnut sponge doused in Port of Mokha Coffee syrup, chocolate, and light coffee mousse that will be available until October.

BENGUET TRIP

After the event, Alkhanshali also found time to visit Benguet to meet with coffee farmers. Accompanied by the Foundation of Sustainable Coffee Excellence, his two-day trip included a courtesy visit to La Trinidad Mayor Romeo K. Salda, a tour of the Benguet State University-Institute of Highland Farming System and Agroforestry, a dialogue with Grade 9 Students at the Ambiong National High School, and a tour of the Itogon coffee farms.

The highlight of his trip to Benguet was sharing his story to the next generation of coffee growers.

“And I can see that they were interested in what I was saying. At one point, I told them, how would you like to see La Trinidad specialty coffee in Tokyo and Paris and New York and they all start clapping. And so, I want them to see that that is a possible future for them career path,” he gushed.

Alkhanshali has committed to coming back to exploring more of the coffee-growing parts of the Philippines, particularly the Muslim region of Mindanao, which is an emerging source for beans.