Pasalubong shopping: Kape de Mutit and Bench Pinoy Labs

I’m flying out to visit family, so that means buying gifts and Pinoy stuff they can’t easily get overseas. One of my brother’s bilin is cafe Alamid. Cafe Alamid, also known as kopi luwak in Indonesia is one of the most expensive coffee in the world, also said to be the best.

So what makes Café Alamid so special? “It starts off with the alamids picking the ripest and finest berries to eat, by smell. The animals stuff themselves with it and excrete them all in the morning as the beans cannot be digested.”

It is in their digestive tract that miracles happen. “The stomach acids and enzymes affect the chemical structure of the beans.

Source: Inquirer.net

I didn’t know where I can buy this strange brew, so I ventured out to Kultura to check if they have it. They don’t have Cafe Alamid, but they do stock Kape de Mutit. It’s the same civet-harvested coffee, but this one was harvested from the Kalinga and Ifugao provinces. Aside from the word “civet,” I knew this is the same coffee because of the price tag: Php 499.75 for a mere 70 grams, whereas the other coffee are selling for only Php 99.75.

The coffee is branded as Philippine Coffees (fair trade coffee), which comes from small farms around the country. The inscription on the side of the box reads, “they benefit micro entrepreneurs engaged in natural coffee farming practices and are paid fairly to ensure their sustainability.” I don’t know where else in Metro Manila you can buy this coffee, but I’ve seen a couple online stores selling them for the astonishing price of $50 for 100 grams.

On the gift front, I found these cute shirts for kids and palengkera bag at Bench. I love how Pinoy-pride themed items are now in vogue. Gone were the days of tacky souvenirs — now you can get these awesomely designed stuff in most local boutiques, not just the Filipiniana stores.

The shirts are from Bench’s Pinoy Lab line, which features apparel for kids, tweens and adults. The straw bag was designed by Rey Anthony Villanueva for the Adobo Design Competition. So cute no? The bag was priced at Php 279.00, while the shirts were around Php 300.