LANTAWAN COFFEE STRIP AT SILAY

LANTAWAN CAFE, RESTO BAR, & RESORT STRIP

Location: Along Silay-Lantawan Road

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Lantawan View Resort

Photo by Henry Libo-on, Touristang Pobre

Introduction

Just like the rest of you, I am a coffee drinker too. My day is never complete without a cup of coffee in the morning. It is my "upper" for the day, so to speak. As a stimulant, coffee, can spark me to action.

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In order to know more about coffee, I tried to research its history and I was brought by Google to the blogsite called "Polite Coffee Roasters". It published an article about the origins of coffee and the story about the first coffee shop. The article was dated June 28, 2022.

To know more about what I found out, please visit this link: History of Coffee: From the Origins of the Plant to the First Coffee S – Polite Coffee (Source: politecoffe.com)

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In a nutshell, Polite Coffee Roasters narrated that there are two most common types of coffee, the Coffea Canephora or Robusta and Coffea Arabica or Arabica. According to Nicavera, Coffee Growing Thrives in Negros Town, there are two other types of coffee, the Liberica and Excelsa.

According to bing.com Liberica is native to Western and Central Africa from Liberia to Uganda, and Angola. This article also mentioned that these types of coffee had been naturalized in the Philippines and other parts of Asia, specifically Vietnam, the country considered as one of the top coffee producers in the world after Brazil.

Excelsa coffee was discovered in 1903 in Central Africa. It is also known as Coffea Dewevrei and is believed to be a close relative of Liberica.

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Coffee Growing in Negros Island

I have done my research on coffee growing in Negros Occidental, but this gave me a few current information only and not the historical account of how coffee was grown on the island.

Precisely, Negrense farmers have been growing coffee as another source of income other than sugarcane farming.

Places that were popular coffee farming areas are: San Carlos, Minoyan, Maao, La Carlota, Bago, and many others. Canlaon City farmers also plant coffee as another source of income. There are other towns that are known as coffee growers on the island like: La Castellan (Brgy. Sag-ang); Magalona (Canlusong); and La Carlota (Brgy. Yubo). These towns produced what Agriculturists call as Rainforest Coffee.

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Coffee Shops Along the Highways

As far as I can remember, coffee shops along the highways had been popular when Negrenses travel from one point to another to trade, visit, or do other business. In the past, sari-sari stores along the road sell coffee to tired travelers, tricycle and coche drivers, and later on to cyclists and motor riders - "habal-habal", Sky Lab, and Vloggers.

Serving coffee was also incorporated in restaurant or carinderia service. Meaning, travelers stop by restaurant or carinderia not only to have breakfast, lunch or dinner but also to drink coffee.

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With the popularity of mountain biking, motorcycle travel adventure, backpacking and Blogging or Vlogging, the demand for coffee along the routes of these adventurers have increased tremendously.

Thus, the mushrooming of coffee shops on the sides of the road whether it is on the mountain, farm, town or city.

There is one area in Negros Occidental that coffee shops can be found on the side of the road such as going to Patag. The national highway or Silay-Lantawan Road is one example of a strip of road that has plenty of coffee shops.

We traveled this road in the hope that we can drink coffee in one of these coffee shops. I discovered that drinking coffee paired with toast bread, or breakfast of rice, dried fish, tocino or chorizo, is a good combination for a morning tete-a-tete with travel companions.

Duyan Cafe is one of the popular coffee shops along the Silay-Lantawan Cafe & Restobar Strip.

But time has changed when the Pandemic happened in early 2020. Cafes and restobars along this road had to close or open only on weekends.

Lantawan View is a resort located along this Silay-Lantawan road. It offers hot and distinctly different kind of coffee flavor which to my mind was like "sara-sara" or coffee made of ground corn, rice, or whatever herbs planted locally. I did not ask the barista though what the coffee was made of. I just savored it and enjoyed it. Perhaps, it was from coffee beans.

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The Red Barn
Video by Teren Teren
Source: YouTube.
Damo nga salamat Teren Teren.

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The Red Barn is a nice place to sip a cup of coffee because the view of the forest and the garden is just irresistible for the eyes to feast on. I was tempted to have lunch here, but I have to rush back to CICM Talisay to attend a special event.
My road trip to Lantawan Cafe & Resort Strip was just to make my time productive and to discover what Lantawan is all about.
After this, it was time to go to CICM, Talisay City to attend the 51st Golden Jubilee Reunion dubbed as Sinadya Festival of Bacolod City High School Class '71.

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By the way, coffee was originated mostly in Central Africa while Arabica Coffee originated mostly in Southwestern Ethiopia or modern-day Sudan and Northern Kenya. (Polite Coffee Dot Com). Try this link to learn more about the Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi and the history about coffee.

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Because Liway Cafe' is elevated from the ground, it offers a good view of the forest, mountain, and the lowlands. Food, coffee, drinks, nice facilities, and an overlooking view of the forest and lowlands, Liway is, for me, is a nice place to relax in Lantawan.

Some Cafes are closed but I was told that they might open soon.

Entrance to Lantawan View Resort

The Rooster Cafe' & Resto
I took this photo of the entrance to Rooster Cafe'.

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There is a new development along the Silay-Lantawan Road.
As we drove past this road, I noticed that a new resort is being developed here, it's Trasey Rose Resort.

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My comments:

It was a fulfilling road trip along the Silay-Lantawan Road. The sceneries, the rustic life of the locals, the cafes that attract more visitors, those cafes with a few or no visitors at all, the challenge that faces the Barista in serving hot coffee in a place where the temperature is cool, and also the challenge in serving real coffee - be it Robusta, Arabica, Sara-sara, or serving half of Coffee in sachets instead of pouring the whole content of the sachet into the cup, and more.

Coffee drinkers can spot the difference between great tasting coffee and a mediocre tasting one.

I enjoyed my "sara-sara" at Lantawan. It gave me a burp.

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Now, if you like coffee and Lantawan, please SHARE this article with your Facebook friends or LIKE this Blog.

Please enjoy your road trip, drinking, dining, and overnight stay experience at Lantawan.

Thank you. Ciao'.

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