Photo from: Gio Visitacion.
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The staff of Good Cup Coffee had their fair share of trauma and pain when, on April 11, 2019, one of the shop’s owners and their cashier were gunned down inside their store along F. Ramos Street.
The unfortunate incident led to the deaths of award-winning barista and co-owner of The Good Cup Coffee Co., John Michael Hermoso and one of their employees Kis Trivly Ramos.
But with less than a month before the tragic incident turns one, a breath of fresh air and triumph came their way as Gio Visitacion, one of the owners of The Good Cup was declared this year’s champion for The Philippine Brewers Cup Competition held last March 9 to 11 at SM Megamall.
The same competition was won by Hermoso last year.
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Visitacion told CDN Digital that it was not a walk in the park for him to compete in a big coffee competition like this.
“For the Brewers Cup, there are 2 rounds of the competition, Elimination Round and the Finals Round. For the elimination round, it is judged by 2 performances, the first performance is that all the competitors shall brew the same coffee given by the sponsor and the best-tasting coffee will score high, the second performance is that we are asked to brew, serve and present our chosen coffee within 10 minutes (this is scored by the quality of taste and presentation skills),” he said.
From 12 contestants, they were stripped down to six after the elimination round.
“The top 6 participants for the elimination round will proceed to the finals wherein we are asked to perform again our presentation by brewing our chosen coffee and serving it to the judges within 10 minutes. We are judged according to who serves the best tasting coffee with the best presentation and customer service,’ he added.
Visitacion told CDN Digital that it was more than just a competition for him and for the company.
“It means a lot for me and the company. Joining a coffee competition is never easy at all. Hard work is the key to win the coffee competition. It means a lot to the company. Two from our team joined this year’s National Coffee Competition, one for Brewers Cup, one for Barista Cup and it is our way of honoring and dedicating our performance to our beloved team members (Katy and John) who are in heaven now,” said Visitacion.
Visitacion recalled that he was very anxious before and during the competition since it is his first competition as a coffee individual.
“I felt very motivated because during the same time last year, it was John and I working on winning the National Brewers Cup and it was an added motivation for me to do my best,” he recalled.
Visitacion is also very grateful for all those who supported him, his wife, his family, his mentors, Patrik Rolf and Erik Liao and to this staff and to his two angels up above, John and Kis.
Read: Good Cup Coffee shooting: Suspect identified; murder complaint filed
It may have been a bad start for them last year, but through hard work and dedication, they are coming out stronger than before with more drive to serve nothing but the best coffee in the metro. /rcg