Finding the perfect espresso machine

 An espresso machine is one of the most important equipment a cafe owner will need in running a cafe. The other one being the grinder. 

Ever since we started our journey in the coffee industry, we see a lot of different brands and types of espresso machines, different prices, and of course, the different features and specifications of espresso machines.

Quite often, we see cafe owners in the City of Davao using the home use type of espresso machine. Their reason, budget. By home use, it means that the capacity of the machine can cater a minimal number of serving at a time, say, 3 to 5 coffee drinkers at once. Then you need to wait thereafter for the machine to reach the right temperature again to make another batch of 3 to 5 extractions. These types of espresso machines may not be able to sustain when the cafe business gets big especially if you use the steam simultaneously. That's the time that they need to decide on when to upgrade and which machine will be best for their operation.

So, the question really is, "which one should I choose?"

Remember that all espresso machines have different features. To name a few, boiler capacity, heat recovery of the machine after use, pumps, pressure and temperature reach and others.

The best advice I can give is to "know your goal" first. If your goal is to serve more than 10, 20 customers an hour, you need to put this into your priority list in choosing an espresso machine. 

The next part is knowing how many succeeding extraction an espresso machine can make. Remember that temperature and pressure play an important factor on this. Hence, you also need to know how the heat recovers. 

For busy coffee shops in Davao City, average customers may be from 20 to 50. We have seen coffee shops near schools where customers of 10 to 15 go in at once and order their hot or iced coffee drink. And with this number, an espresso machine and grinder which can sustain this volume of customers should be a priority.

If you have already found a list of espresso machine to choose from, the next thing you may want to know is the after sales service.

Of course, machines may break down, parts may need to be replaced at a certain time. Can the machine supplier provide you with the parts? How about a service technician? How fast can they cater to your concern?

Now if all of your questions and concerns are answered, that's the right time to pick out the best espresso machine on your list. This is certainly an investment that you may need to be really sure of.

So, happy espresso machine hunting!

Coffee Journey

When we started our coffee journey in 2022, we didn't know that we would be enjoying this today. To be honest, the only thing we know about coffee are those that every household have and drink every day, the instant coffees.

Fast forward today, we reached a lot of places, improved our speaking and sales skills and we get to learn a lot from coffee beans to espresso machines to the different coffee beverage we can actually create.

Here are some of the things we learned since we started:

* Coffee plants are planted in different level of elevation and it depends on the variety of coffee. Like for example, robusta are found on low level altitudes while arabica are found in higher altitudes.

 * Coffee can adopt the taste and aroma of the crops that were previously planted on the soil. For coffee experts, they can easily identify different taste, calling it notes, and the most common being the jackfruit and citrusy after taste from lime or lemon.

* Coffee has unique tastes and goes well when blended although some prefer it 100% of the same variety when extracting their espresso. Robusta for example is most commonly used as raw materials for instant coffees and they're known to have more caffeine content which is the reason for its bitterness. Arabica, on the other hand, is known for its acidity. So, when combined together, the tastes compliment each other producing a really good cup of coffee.

* Coffee, when extracted by an espresso machine, will have different taste depending on the temperature applied. Like for example, the same batch of coffee at 93 degrees may not have the same taste when extracted at 95 degrees. 

 * Roasting plays an important role in making a perfectly good batch of coffee for espresso machines.

* When grinding coffee beans, the grind size matters. However, it would still depend on the palate of the coffee drinker to say that a cup of coffee is really good which is pretty much their "sweet spot".

In all honesty, the coffee industry is quite unique. The more you indulge in it, the more you learn about it and it just doesn't end. 

  

 

 

Bye 2023... hello 2024

Looking back at the year that was, 2023, made me realize that we are blessed and we should always be thankful for whatever we received and what we went through, no matter how hard it was.

From our side of the coin, our relationship with friends was tested. In all honesty, it's not a confidential matter but only a few "close" friends knew what happened. Although it was something that has become a barrier and a hurdle to grow the friendship and maintain it, we learned a lot of lessons from it. This learning has helped us, somehow, to choose the right friends.

Patience was also tested. There are times when we feel that the values we had learned was enough, but, when you evaluate it, it is not and won't be enough in this lifetime or next. Either you just learn to dance with the music or completely block these off.

Faith, hope and family mattered, A LOT!! Let's face it, we're all imperfect. And these aspects require a lot of effort, trust and prayer. In all honesty, these are what we describe as "work in progress". And something that falls in this category shouldn't be taken for granted.

Nevertheless, no matter the hurdles and blessings were thrown on your path, you will have to learn to thrive. No matter how good or bad a situation is, we shouldn't be complacent. Things may change in between.

But trust God that He will carry us out of what we think the lowest situation we are in. And, we should always be thankful for whatever comes our way, good or bad. 

So let's declare that we will have a better 2024! Cheers to the year that was and the year that will be.... all the good and bad things that were and all the good and lessons that will be learned from all of these. 

Happy new year!! Bring it on 2024!

Resolution? Nahhhh..

A few more days and we'll now be entering a brand new year, 2024. 

The question is, what have we accomplished so far? Did we become better people? Have we achieved our goals? Have we been good and worry free? Have we ticked off some of our itemized goals from our bucket lists? I bet, most of us didn't. If we did, maybe 2 to 5 off our bucket list would be a great achievement.

Well, to be honest with you, I never had a bucket list unlike some people I know. I usually go with the flow and what's available.

BUT...... I really have a few ones that I really, really wanted to do.

1. Travel to Egypt. - I really can't explain why but maybe the engineer side of me wanted to see personally how beautifully made the pyramids were. Let's face it, it's history. And, being there at that site is certainly a dream. I may not be a civil engineer but a perfectly mafe structure is worth the money we have on earth. 

2. Explore Jerusalem. - Almost all of us were educated that Jerusalem is a holy place. It was written in the Bible. I believe that being there alone would really make an impact to our religious and "not so" religious side. Maybe, it will inspire us to love Jesus more.

3. See the northern lights - Well, like most people, I also want to witness the wonders of the world. And it's almost always that the actual sight is more beautiful than what we see in the pictures. Doesn't do justice.

4. Live abroad. - I had been dreaming eversince of waking up everyday in a different country. I don't know why. But this might be one of the list that will be hard to achieve. Yet, only God knows. 

Each of us may have dreams that may seem to become less and less achievable. Yet, I certainly hope that these will not affect our goals in life. I have a lot. You may have more than I do. Yet, all of these are gifts from the heavens. 

If we ever do achieve one, let's thank the heavens for it. And if we don't, let's strive more to become better.

Happy New Year!!

Thankful

 I am a Catholic, born and raised. Yet, I am not a religious person. I don’t go to Church every Sunday nor do I read the bible. But I pray whenever and wherever, yet not that religiously also. But amidst these, God has been really good to me, to us. I can attest to that.

Let me tell you our story.

Year 2022, when I left the company I worked for, my husband and I decided to enter into a business together with our childhood friend with his wife as partners. We came to learn and love the coffee industry. Although not an expert, we learned to distinguish good and bad shots, difference of Arabica, Robusta and Liberica, uniqueness of performing artisan and signature coffee to normal extraction and so much more.

Our partners, however, had been in the F&B industry for more than 10 years and so we didn’t question a bit of their credibility since they were really good at this craft and, of course, sales.

When 2022 was approaching to the 4th quarter, we were introduced to a “possible investor” who were based in the US. Of course, we became excited with this idea since we were actually short of capital to make the business expand.

When we met the wife, we were actually hopeful that the negotiations will turn positively. Much to our dismay, we were told by our partners that all negotiations will go through them and not to us which means that if and when there are meetings, we're not included and we will only be getting the minutes. They will be conveying whatever they will tackle. What sad is that, apparently, they said that the investors decided that they will be the ones who will be in the corporation (SEC) and we will just be given our portion through the shares that will be handed to them. No contract, no legalities.

Then came 2023, further talks was that they won’t be investing here and that they will concentrate in another Region. Furthermore info from them was that we will just be a sub-distributor to a sub-distributor. This meant that we will be selling products that they buy from the main branch. This also meant that margin will be small for us since they’ll be cutting a percentage from the profit we’re going to make.

Because of these issues, my husband and I had a lot of sleepless nights which ended up in small and big arguments. It was then that we decided to call the main branch for clarification, deals and arrangements that we can work on from where we were standing.

Luckily, the main branch gave us their trust and confidence that we can make it. Not that we are raising our chairs but we had been in Mindanao all our life. Plus, coming from a society that consists of businessmen and capitalists, we thought we will be able to start off positively without them.

After my husband and I decided not to take on with their last offer of being their sub-distributor, the corporation we established went to shambles. It was decided to just finish the contract and each of us will go our own way. To be honest, that was by far the best decision we had made. No more arguments with my husband and no more sleepless nights.

Now, we are working towards being known. We now have clients that can attest to our hard work. Clients that know what our worth is.

Thankful that God really works in mysterious ways. Sometimes, we may not understand why these things happen, but in the end, it is still proven that God knows what is best for us.

To quote Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plants to give you a hope and future.’”

If you’re going to question me who these people were, I’d rather keep it quiet and just watch how karma works. After all, Karma is a bitch.

21 years for 26 years and counting

 A few days ago, I celebrated my 21st birthday for 26 years 🤪. In all honestly, when someone asks me how old I am, I always answer them with a “21 years old”. They raise their brows, confused, yet I always give them a follow up explanation that I just stopped counting at 21.

Nobody wants to get old, I included, even if I can’t deny the fact that my body and bones are telling otherwise.

In all honesty, I had lived a full life at this age. People I know haven’t experienced what I had experienced. Name it, we went through it. Well, if not 100%, at least, more than 80%, to my knowledge.

No one knew what our struggles were. How we coped up and how we’re still fighting to be reach full recovery.

To tell you frankly and not bragging, I grew up in a middle class to a well off family. I never came across to having problems on what food will be served on the table, whether our clothes were ironed or not, what bills were remained unpaid, what tuitions were missed out…. or maybe our parents were just too secretive to let us know their hurdles as well like what we’re doing now. Maybe, the latter. But they successfully took care of that, that we didn’t know that we have to also be mindful of it. Not until we grew, got married and had kids. Well….

Having said all these, I really think that I had lived a full life at this age, experienced a lot of situations wherein not everyone are privileged to experience. And I have to thank God for that.

Another reason that kept me going was my husband. He never gave up on me. I can be frustrating at times. I don’t know how to cool, clean, etc. But he managed to work with me. Today, he cooks for the family except when he feels under the weather or has a hangover from the night before. When he does, the kids or I take over, let’s not to mention the over-cooked viands when I take over. The twins, however, are brilliant cooks. They got it from their papa.

Luckily and thankfully, eventhough I am not “religious” and a “devotee”, God works through me, and, in me. The reason why I always feel thankful, grateful and definitely blessed. And, I have no regrets. Well, there maybe some that should been done differently but no regrets.

My point? Honestly, I don’t have a point here. I prolly just want to share what I went through in a silhouette. This is just, maybe, 5% to 30% of my life story.

Would you care to tell me yours?

Run free, Kulit

 We lost another dog today. We now lost 4 dogs this year. Sad.

I’ll be missing you, Kulit. Run free now. I hope to see you on the other side someday.

Rides and Adventure: Procorato Farm Resort

 After the quick visit which I shared in my previous blog entry, we finally decided to do an overnight out of town escapade on the 28th of October, 2023, yesterday.

We took the Panabo – Malabog road still. We reached the resort at around 3ish in the afternoon. We were greeted by the owners, Jerome, Mar and Bernard, with smiles, an empty resort which was already reserved exclusively for us at a downpayment of Php 500.00 sent through Gcash.

What I like the most about the overnight stay was that the boys took really good care of our group. Gates were locked at around 10PM to ensure our and our vehicle’s safety.

There were there with us until we decided to retire for the night as they had also retired as well.

Although the resort didn’t have electricity as of the moment, they prepared 2 generator sets for us, 1 is reserved in case the generator set. The resort also has a karaoke machine which made us really happy since singing is one of the hobbies that Filipinos love.

I will be sharing with you videos and a few pictures of the area to give you an idea how it looks like.

Although the resort is still a baby, 2 years old according to the boys, the pool and waterfalls are already a-ok for the price. And, they’re looking forward to doing more improvements with the area.

So far the experience we had with the accommodation was worth it. That’s why, I’m giving it a 7 out of 10.

Rides and Adventure: Malabog

 One advantage that we felt when we started our small business is that we don’t need to spend 8 hours in the office just like when we are employed with an 8 to 5 job. This honestly is one of the best when managing a business. Although, there are also disadvantages like earning being directly proportional to the hard work that you put into.

Nevertheless, we get to enjoy a lot of time to ourselves instead of being stuck in a desk in the office for 8 hours.

Speaking of free time, last Saturday, since we had no schedule we decided to do our rides and adventure following our itchy feet.

This time around, our itchy feet brought us to Malabog, Paquibato District in Davao City. There we had the opportunity to scout resorts for future escapades.

There are 3 routes that one can take to reach Malabog: Mandug – Malabog which is 49.1 kms with an estimated travel time of 1 hour and 28 minutes; Panabo – Malabog which is 54.7 kms with an estimated travel time of 1 hour and 37 minutes and Calinan – Malabog which is 57.4 kms with an estimated travel time of 1 hour and 47 minutes. By the way, these estimates are actually based on our current location which is Cabantian.

The last time we heard that there was a landslide along Calinan – Malabog route and Callawa – Malabog route which was unpassable, we decided to take the Panabo – Malabog route to be sure.

The travel to Malabog via Panabo was an easy one. Roads were already fully cemented, thanks to the efforts of Build, Build, Build and NTF-Elcac for reaching to far flung areas with their own projects. The view is spectacular for you are able to see a lot of overlooking sites while you travel.

When we reached Malabog, we immediately went to the resorts to check them out. Without further ado, I’m sharing pictures and videos so you can have a clearer picture of how the resorts look like.

First stop was Camp Eleaga which was already a famous resort even pre-covid days. Camp Eleaga’s source of water is from a lake beside their pool. It is said that the water came from a cold spring.

Next stop was Procorato Nature Park. While the other resorts’ source for their pool water was either a spring or a stream, Procorato’s source was from a waterfall. If you plan to go overnight at Procorato, you can go exclusive at 3,500 and good for 25 pax already. Check in is 4PM, check out is 12PM the next day.

Third stop was Remy Areja’s spring resort. Since the whole view of the pool can be seen from the top, we decided not to go down to take pictures. Instead, we took videos. What’s cool about the place is the overlooking view of the resort.

Last stop was Masdec. Masdec is a smaller version of Remy Areja. Unlike the latter, masdec doesn’t have an overlooking view although the resort is descending.

So these are the 4 resorts that we went to. There was another resort that we passed by while travelling and looking for lunch, we decided not to go in anymore since we thought that we had already found the resort that we would most likely go back to and that’s Procorato. Why you may ask? Well, I love the sound of tre water from the waterfalls and being closer to nature is just awesome.

Oh, by the way, we took the Calinan – Malabog route on our way home to check if it’s already passable since the people there told us that it was already indeed passable. Just a tip to everyone, there are portions where the roads cracked and utilizes 1 lane only instead of 2. It’s best if you’re on a 4 wheel drive vehicle and motorcycle if you decide to take this route.

Till, next entry!

Random Prayer

 Dear Papa Jesus,

I know you know what my heart holds. I rarely share prayers of disappointments, rather, I pray that everything goes well and some in between.

This time around, I want to express a small dent in my heart.

I know that life is not equal. It never will be equal, never will be fair.

I used to explain to people that no matter how hard you try to trace a line using the same ruler, every line will almost always end up differently by a certain degree. Yet, never have I imagined that it would really become one of those experiences that I will hold until I get old.

I have always understood that even if parents would declare that they look at their kids equally, it never ever happens that everyone are equal. Moreso if the parents have more than 2 children.

I never expected anything to be fair, yes, never. I knew for a fact that no matter what, there will always be someone from the brood that will escalate as their favorite and that can’t be helped. It exists. I never had any questions about it. But, if it will become a burden for the rest of us, that will be a different story.

Papa Jesus, guide us please. Especially me. I’m the oldest. And everything that will happen to any one of them is and will be my fault. I remember mom telling me before, that it was because of me that they married someone she doesn’t approve and someone who’s not Chinese. I was their role model.

I never imposed anything to them. I even advised them to not follow my footsteps. But you know better.

It’s alright Papa if I get to catch all of those blunders, it’s fine. In the end, you know better.

Just, please, somehow, heal my heart. Teach me to let go of things that don’t matter and are hopeless. Remind me that it’s not my fault, if it’s really not my fault. If it is, let me carry it.

My prayers stand the same, Father. No need to tell everyone what I pray for, for I know, You know what my prayers are.

Still, thank you. I get to learn so much in the short time that you had alloted for me in this world.

Love, A

Goodbye our little Nami

 Sharing a sad news to everyone reading this blog. Our little puppy Nami who is 7 weeks old passed away yesterday.

I previously wrote that our Nana gave birth to 4 puppies by CS.

Now, only one has survived, Yuna.

I will miss our little Nami so much. We tried our hardest to keep her but God has other plans.

Run free little Nami. I pray that God will keep you on his side in Heaven. We’ll see each other soon. I love you Nami.

Rides and Adventure: Pilan River

After months of telling our ride buddies about Sinoron, as recommended by a friend, we finally were able to go on an adventure to Pilan River located at Sinoron, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.

The travel to Sinoron, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur from Davao City is about 40 kms and will take 1 hour and 30 minutes more or less. We started off at around 6AM and arrived at Sinoron before 8AM. Well, we took a few stopovers for breakfast and did a minor repair to one of our friend’s motorcycle.

Upon arriving at the Sinoron Barangay Hall, we registered and paid our fees which was Php 50.00 per head. While the guide assigned to us was at Php 80.00 per head.

The hike to Pilan River from the Barangay Hall is approximately 3.5 kms give and take a few meters. We were actually lucky enough to not have taken the whole 3.5 kms trek stretch since we were allowed by the ones at the Barangay to drive halfway to Pilan River. There, we parked our motorcycles in the compound of the guide’s relatives. For the parking fee, well, they didn’t ask for a fixed amount instead they told us kim whatever we can give, they’ll accept.

From the area we parked, we were down to 2 kms hike and mind you, it wasn’t easy. The slopes were definitely difficult and I wasn’t actually expecting it. Some portions were cemented while others were not. Uphill was certainly a struggle, I had to make short stops in between to catch my breath since I have no practice when it comes to hiking uphill.

Yet, no matter how difficult the hike was, when we arrived at the area, it was definitely worth it!

Here are some snaps we took while we were enjoying the serene sound of nature, bonding time with friends and just plain conversations. Right, just conversations since mobile signal can’t reach that far which was a relief.

Of course, food was as enjoyable as the view.

With out tour guide, Julius

The boys had the chance of going for a hike deeper to enjoy the asik asik falls or mini waterfalls as the others would call it. Too bad there were no pictures.

Anyhow, we left the area at around 3PM to head home. The hike back to where we parked was as difficult as it was getting to the river. Well, even if it was downhill, the knees complained 🤪 a little.

When we reached the Barangay Hall, we stayed for a bit and some were even able to enjoy walking on stilts.

Before I wrap this up, I had to flex our tiktok entry for the dance challenge “cake” at this link:

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSNNn3feo/

Better yet, I’ll just upload it here.

This is definitely one of those adventures that we would like to go back to even if my muscles are hurting from short hike yesterday.

Oh and by the way, if you plan to visit Pilan River, you can contact our guide at these mobile and fb pages:

– 0953 182-7094

– messengers: Julius P. Gesalan and/or Judith Angget