Dipolog City Held Its 1st Sunset and Coffee Festival — What It Means to A Coffeeholic Like Me

The rising of coffee shop businesses and the growing numbers of coffee enthusiasts in a city with the most stunning sunset view, have led the city tourism of Dipolog to initiate the first ever Sunset and Coffee Festival in line with the celebration of the 17th Dahunog sa Dipolog.

For some of my readers to know, Dipolog City annually celebrates the Dahunog Festival where it highlights the interschool competition of parade marching bands and a teen pageant for tourism. My high school self had even participated on this and the festival has already been celebrated for 17 long years. But the celebration in 2022 for Dahunog Festival is an unexpected turn of events because the accustomed event highlights didn’t push through.

This turning point though has given a memorable and fun event to the arising coffee community of Dipolog City. And I know that this means so much not just to all coffee lovers out there, like me, but to every coffee businesses.

The Sunset and Coffee Festival in Dipolog City

Organized by the Dipolog City Tourism headed by Mrs. Cecile Bilog and in cooperation with the Dipolog Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Sports (DTACS) Council represented by Vice President Mr. Kenny Val Ong, the Sunset and Coffee Festival brings together the leading companies, as well as start-ups, in the coffee industry of Dipolog City where they showcase their services and products at the Dipolog City Boulevard during one of the most beautiful moments of the day — sunset.

This amazing event is mostly celebrated by hardcore coffee fans, professionals, and enthusiasts to enjoy along with the lovers of sunset which is probably everybody. I mean who doesn’t like sunset anyways! From a Coffee Stand Pop-up competition, Coffee Painting, to a friendly barista match that brings the best local baristas and brewers — this festival was such a blast!

Coffee Stand/Cart Design Competition — On being one of the Judges

During the opening ceremony of the 17th Dahunog sa Dipolog, a Coffee Stand/Cart Design Competition took place. I am so honored to graced as one of the judges and was able to see the creativity of all the coffee businesses who participated. A big thanks to Ma’am Regina Luy for the cordial invitation!

There are 16 exhibitors in the competition and each one of them has presented their brand in its most unique way possible. The effort of all exhibitors was beyond applaudable, but the one that stands out from the rest was the cart of Morning Dose Cafe who was hailed champion.

The Morning Dose Cafe cart is a package of visual appeal and a pristine presentation. Building a DIY coffee cart isn’t easy, but this brand has found its way to have a convenient and minimalist style coffee cart, filled with essentials for their customers.

One of my favorites was the stand of Vineyard Garden Cafe because they have definitely displayed their brand consistently. I like how the design of their stand visually represents the name as well. The creativity of coffee art for the Addictea stand was another favorite! I also like to mention Better Brews. Their products are unarguable — they have the best matcha drink in Dipolog City. Although product tasting wasn’t part of the criteria for judging, but what I like about their stand is how polished it appears to me. The Workstation Coffee and Tea is worth-mentioning as well. I like the overall femininity of the stand.

One of the ceremony highlights of the Sunset Coffee and Festival opening was the launching of the Dahunog sa Dipolog Sunset and Coffee Festival 2022 stand located across the Explore Dipolog landmark. I feel like this is temporary but personally, this is such a wonderful idea to promote the event. It also gives emphasis of the sunset view in Dipolog City boulevard without really ruining the sunset scenery.

Local Barista Competition — How it Went

Being invited as one of the guests for the 1st Local Barista Competition in line with the Sunset and Coffee Festival was such a pleasure.

It was a lot of fun to see my friends and acquaintances with the same interest to be in an event that highlights the passion and skills of our local talents. I met a few people because of my love for coffee and seeing them compete in front of the dignified judges, the audience, and Mayor Darel was just a proud moment.

Manual Coffee Brewing Category

The competition started off with the Manual Coffee Brewing category where it shows the craft of filter coffee brewing by hand while promoting manual coffee brewing and the quality of service. This category has three participants from Morning Dose Cafe, Brewdol Pop-up Coffee, and the champion is Elbert Moria of Unbranded Coffee Roasters.

Coffee Latte Art Category

Eight (8) local baristas of Dipolog City have participated in this category that highlights their artistic expression and challenges their on-demand performance. I actually didn’t know before that this is a thing and I was really happy to witness it for the first time because I only love my lattes based on how it taste like and I like to appreciate the art on top of it. But, I thought the art is just part of a customer’s satisfaction and knowing now that it has some technical stuff to do latte art and an actual competition worldwide, that is amazing.

From eight baristas in the preliminary round, it went down to 4 baristas who competed to become the winner. One that made it to become the 1st champion of the Coffee Latte Art category is Mr. Jamie Dalman of Cafe Nicasio.

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In addition to a lot of fun during the competition (and a certain degree of stress), this event has brought networking opportunities and a supportive coffee community to local baristas and brewers of Dipolog City. I love the part where at the end of the event, the three judges who are professionals on this field from Cebu gave a free mentoring session to the participants to help them improve their skills and taught them more about technicals in the competition.

What’s Next For Sunset and Coffee Festival

The Dipolog City Tourism is now on the move to take Sunset and Coffee Festival to the next level in the coming years. Some of the plans were shared to us by Maam Cecile Bilog during her interview with me. She gave us a hint about the possibility of launching the 2nd Sunset and Coffee Festival next year 2023 during the World Tourism Day which is celebrated every 27th of September.

THERE WILL BE AN ADDITIONAL LINE-UP OF ACTIVITIES FOR the 2nd SUNSET AND COFFEE FESTIVAL AND SOME COMPETITION WILL SOON BECOME INVITATIONAL.

Ma’am Cecile Bilog, Tourism Head of Dipolog City

Dahunog Festival has its own set of activities because it’s a fiesta celebration of Dipolog City in line with the tourism week, but the kick-off of the 2nd Sunset and Coffee Festival is set to happen in 2023 as one of the major events of Dahunog.

What does the Sunset and Coffee Festival means to the Coffee Community of Dipolog City

The success of the first ever Sunset and Coffee Festival in Dipolog City has opened doors to a lot of people in this thriving coffee community. It allows people with the same interest to meet, discuss, and collaborate. The event provided a platform for innovation. It helps hobbyist to improve their skill sets, either through learning new things or competing. For me, it has given me passion and excitement not just to drink more coffee, but to learn more about the coffee that I drink in the hope of discovering my favorite blend.

I haven’t tried all the available coffee in the business, but I will get there soon so that I could narrow down a blog list of the best coffee in Dipolog City.