Cordillera Coffee: June 2007

Below is an article by Ms Leonor San Agustin, Baguio-Mountain Provinces Musuem curator, in her column The Catalyst III in Midland Courier.

Last Saturday, May 19, the Three Witches were invited to grace the opening of the Cordillera Coffee, the newest café in the SM ground floor, owned by Mary Grace Arboleda. This café is one of those sit down-drink god coffee-and relax variety of coffee shops that are proliferating not only at SM malls but all over Baguio. This abundance of coffee shops just for de-stressing one’s busy schedule is a sign that Baguio is becoming a city of stress – the consequence of crowds going in and out of SM even on rainy afternoons, taxis that crowd its front gardens and roads, the whistles of security guards, and the general ambience of peace and quiet that our city was famous for if we had not lost it when the city allowed SM to build a mall where once the Pines Hotel was, then we are losing it. It is a good thing Cordillera Coffee shop is located way out to the right side of the building so you can see the stand of pine trees, the flowers, and the sunlight shining through the expanse of landscape across the road.
What makes the Cordillera Coffee different is not only the coffee which gives the strong flavor of the “barako” beans – but the paintings on its walls.

At first, I did not notice the paintings because when ushered in, we were asked to sit on a chair against the wall, but when we came in from the opening ceremonies, I saw it and stopped. The painting was flat against the wall framed like a door that opens to something, from the floor o way up where the ceiling meets the wall. The arresting figure f a Kalinga beauty in full splendor of her ‘kain’ and its native bead accessories caught my attention.

The provocative stance of the whole figure is based on the painter’s S-curve. Its sweeping line enhance the sexy tilt of her hips and the downward curve of her torso as she looks down to see if her skirt’s waistline was low enough to bare her belly button and define enough of the cleavage of her invisible breasts.

Rishab used this technique very often in most of his paintings of nudes and parts thereof, so that instead of looking directly at the object one uses his imagination to see what is camouflaged by his use of focused lighting. Aside from this technique, he uses sweeping lines to denote the sensuous movement of the total figure thus becoming in the eyes of the beholder paeans of beauty in color and light. His background is muted deep red and brown, which blends with the Kalinga colors of red, yellow, and white. But during the day, the figure does not come out very well and looks rather drab unlike the striking glow of the figure in the focused lighting at night.

The face of Rishab’s Kalinga beauty does not look very Kalinga – the aquiline nose is rather too broad for the high cheekbones if the Kalingas who have fine Indo-Chinese noses with their dark brown complexion. The painter has made the eyes of his Kalinga beauty more of Chinese ancestry than of the lowland Ilocanos. Her neck is filled with beads of all kinds and colors with the two strands of “winayway” as the focus of her attention. The Kalinga woman wears a whole set of jewelry but Rishab highlights only the “winayway” and three other sets of jewelry – the two strings of black and white “addogan” beads worn form the shoulders across the chest to the hipline, this meeting in the middle of the chest like an X sign; the “ballong” -- a band of fine-stringed “carnelian” and “maradao” beads flat around her neck as a choker, and the “rinali” , a narrow or wide armband of very fine black glass worn on the wrist up to the shoulders if the woman is very rich. The touch of pearly white string of beads show beautiful glimmer but in the Kalinga collection of native jewelry, that does not belong there.

While Rishab did not paint all the regulatory native jewelry, which the Kalinga woman wears to show wealth and prestige, his high lighting effects on the three sets show very skillful use of few but rare pieces. Even knotting the ends of the skirt over the left hip to highlight sexy thighs do not come out as it should because of the muted combination of the red, yellow and white lines over the embroidered joineries of complementary green, red, or yellow yarn are not shown in detail in Rishab’s painting. Kalinga skirts attract attention because of the meticulous work of embroidery over weaving in the most stringent color combinations – that is why they are called “dinoble” meaning woven, sewn, embroidered, and finally hanged with the “witawit” (mother of pearl triangular or rhombohedral pieces).

The lack of decorative details and the use of muted colors even with the “tinali” in Rishab’s painting makes it not authentic enough, but certainly, the sexual casualness of her stances, the effectiveness of camouflaged lighting, and the projected beauty and verve is worth seeing at the cost of "barako" coffee!

Of course by "barako" Ma'am San Agustin meant brewed coffee. But Cordillera Coffee takes pride in serving 100% Cordillera Arabica. See the full image of the painting and try a cup of our brew by visiting Cordillera Coffee at the Upper Ground Floor, UP Wing, SM City Baguio.

Baguio-Mt. Provinces Musuem Curator Leonor San Agustin and former Baguio Mayor Viriginia De Guia, with owners Mary Grace Arboleda and Frank Young, unravel the tapis for the Cordillera Coffee opening at SM Baguio. With them are SM Mall Asst. Managers Amy Gonzales and Marc Janssen-Pe. Photo by Redjie of PIA.

It will be a month now after the much awaited grand opening of Cordillera Coffee in Baguio City, our first store in the Cordillera! From its small beginnings in 2003, Cordillera Coffee Company has been actively seeking new investment opportunities to spread the word about the best mountain coffee in the country! Last year we opened a shop in the River City, promoting arts and culture through various exhibitions, workshops, and talks.

What better way to expand and enlarge territories than going back to where our coffee belongs? The Cordillera region is home to a rich culture, a diverse people full of pride for their motherland. The region is of course home to the Cordillera Arabica, its shady mountains giving just the right climate and elevation for growing coffee beans.

19th of May marked the inauguration of the Cordillera Coffee shop in Baguio City. It has been a challenge and a worthy endeavour putting the place together -- recruiting and training a new CordiCoffee team, selecting pieces for the shop, enjoining artists for the art exhibition, the list goes on...

We say thank you to those who have been part of the opening night. For your presence and support, we cannot thank you enough. To those who were unable to attend because of geographical distance and other circumstances, we understand. We know you were there with us in spirit.