SILANG, Cavite -- While its products are available on the shelves of major metro grocers, there’s something irresistible in sipping freshly brewed coffee or eating the freshest bites of produce in the place where these were roasted or grown.

This and more makes a stop in Gourmet Farms in Silang, Cavite a compelling proposition, as we discovered during a recent visit with selected media and guests.

Gourmet Farms always insists on being the freshest, finest and first. This mission has led it to become one of the biggest coffee traders in the country, as well as pioneering force in the local organic food movement.

“Our products are available in 18 groceries in Metro Manila but not all those 18 have the full range,” shared Roldan Calpito, head of marketing for Gourmet Farms.

With a product list that includes coffee, teas, baked goods, lettuce chips, various dips, spreads and sauces, as well as greens and other culinary herbs, exploring their 12-hectare estate was an enlightening and delicious affair; punctuated with lettuce chips, verdant fields, and cups of great coffee.

Located along Aguinaldo Highway, Gourmet Café and Country Store is a quick stop shop that serves and sells Gourmet Farms’ products.

Pause and sip on their coffees and teas, or buy pasalubong like their kitchen exclusives (dips, sauces and spreads), lettuce chips, fresh produce, and even handmade flowers from the Gourmet Farms’ livelihood project with the Tagaytay City Jail inmates.

THE DINING ROOM

Unlike its earliest incarnation (it was a 30-seater nipa hut in the ‘80s), the Dining Room has evolved into a full-service restaurant that would be perfectly at home on the cliffs of Santorini with its high-ceilings, big windows that bring the outside in, and its white minimalist interiors.

The Dining Room has mostly stayed true to its original concept of Mediterranean and Italian cuisine, with the welcome addition of all-day breakfast fare. Showcasing the produce of the farm, must-try dishes include any of their salads, their pastas sauced with pesto or putanesca, and their pizzas cooked in their wood-fire brick oven from Italy.

As a popular event place, the Dining Room has spectacular options for catering (buffets are also sometimes available during weekends) including the ultimate salad bar with its jaw-dropping selection of farm-to-fork salad greens, nine options of sauces, a variety of fix-ins from croutons to vegetables to ham, and even ready-made salad favorites like Russian Beet Salad, Macaroni, and Potato Salad as well.

While the spread during our visit also included healthy wraps and bruschetta, it was the Porchetta that drew the most attention. Served with apple sauce or in a coffee bun sandwich, the herb-roasted pork belly was fragrant with well-rendered and crisp skin.

The coffee bread (created by adding coffee grounds into the bread dough) was sweet and soft and a perfect foil to the richness of the pork, especially with the available accompaniments (lettuce, pickled onion, pickled cucumber, onion marmalade, herb mayonnaise, etc).

For sweet endings, the blueberry cheesecake and the apple pie had many going back for seconds in between sips of herbal tea or brewed coffee.

COFFEE DIVISION

Are you a coffee geek? If you are, the Gourmet Farms’ roastery and warehouse should be a breathtaking sight. Green beans from around the world await, ready to be roasted in their German-made Probat roaster, a commercial roaster that’s said to be the Rolls Royce of coffee roasters.

“We have a lot of blends to cater to any palate, to any coffee connoisseur, but we're now gearing towards convenience. The instant coffee market is making headway when it comes to sales of coffee, Now we're introducing our brewed instant coffee, we call it the drip-ons. And soon we'll have our packaging that is a brewer itself,” said Leonard Reyes, head of the coffee division of Gourmet Farms.

Currently, their coffee line includes the above-mentioned drip-ons, 9 single-origin Arabica coffees from around the world (Arabicas del Mundo), and 7 Philippine Single Origin blends under the brand, Kapelipinas, among others.

ST. JOSEPH’S SANCTUARY

Also part of the estate, this half-hectare complex has a well-appointed chapel, a conference center, a guest house, a man-made lake, and an outdoor pavilion.

Designed to soothe the soul with the combined benefits of spiritual reflection and appreciation of nature, the Sanctuary is home to Solitudo — a 3-day silent and holistic retreat. Visit for a quiet moment during your farm tour.

Gourmet Farms is found along E. Aguinaldo Highway in Silang, Cavite. Farm tours are available all week long. Please visit their website for more information on schedules and products.