Acclaimed Danish coffee roaster Patrik Rolf to return to PH

MANILA -- Acclaimed Danish coffee roaster Patrik Rolf will be in Manila to hold exclusive Barista's Table sessions.

Rolf is the founder and head roaster of the Copenhagen-based April Coffee, known for lighter roast profiles which highlight the nuanced notes of specialty coffee beans.

Rolf himself is an advocate of ethical practices all throughout the coffee value chain and is a consultant for coffee roasters around the world. In competition, he has won a number of awards including the Nordic Roasters Championship, and Silver at the 2019 World Brewers Cup in Boston. His coffee journey from being a dish boy at German roastery Da Matteo to becoming one of the most recognized coffee personalities in the world is documented in his book "From Nerd to Pro."

During the pandemic, Rolf noticed a surge of Filipino customers ordering bags of April Coffee and his self-designed April Dripper shipped from Copenhagen to the Philippines. He categorizes the Philippines as one of the more exciting countries for specialty coffee because of the market's rapid growth.

This isn't Rolf's first visit to the Philippines. He was in Cebu last September 2019 as coach of Good Cup Coffee Co.'s founder Gio Visitacion for the World Brewer's Cup in Milan.

Rolf has tried Philippine coffee beans, including a Mount Apo Natural Processed Catimor brewed and roasted by 21 Kilometer Coffee in Cebu, and he found it tasting balanced with a lot of potential.

His most recent experience was coffee from Finca De Garces in Bukidnon, a natural processed Ethiopian landrace variety. It really surprised Rolf with its naturally sweet, clean tasting, and complex notes.

The barista table sessions are patterned after an omakase service. Rolf will be featuring coffee from Ethiopia, Kenya, Ecuador, a Guatemalan Gesha, and the competition coffee he will be using for the incoming Danish Coffee Championship. Coffee will be prepared in different brewing methods such as pour over, as an espresso, and as a milk-based beverage. Having a world barista and brewer champion behind the bar talking about all things coffee will be a rarefied treat for coffee fanatics.

After the Manila barista table sessions, Rolf will be flying out to different coffee farms around the country to meet farmers and check out the local coffee scene.

As for Visitacion and Good Cup Coffee Co., they are planning to hold more barista table coffee sessions featuring global coffee personalities to share godly ways of preparing coffee in the near future.

The Barista's Table with Patrik Rolf will be from April 22 to 23 at Philippine AXA Plaza in Makati. Slots are priced at P4,000 per seat at the Good Cup Coffee Co. website.