There’s Money in Rice Coffee - 1

Good morning friends. There is this Agriculture Talk which everybody can can money. I want to share it with you.

People from PhilRice call her the rice coffee magnate. And for a good reason. From very small beginnings, she has developed rice coffee making as her virtual goldmine. Her products that now include non-rice teas are sold in prestigious malls in Metro Manila, including the SM Mall of Asia and five other SM branches.

From SM alone, she now collects an average of R137,000 a month, an amount that is considered very significant for a micro-entrepreneur like her. Of course, she also sells a lot through other outlets in Metro Manila as well as in Nueva Ecija and other provinces.

Letty’s love affair with rice coffee all started in November 1997 during the anniversary of PhilRice. At that time the officials of PhilRice requested the women of Munoz to exhibit their rice-based food products like rice wine, chiffon cake, shang rice, butsi and others. Previously they had undergone training on making such products. In the case of Letty, she chose to exhibit roasted rice packed in transparent plastic. To each pack she pasted a typewritten "rice coffee" label.

The visitors were not exactly impressed by Letty’s rice coffee. After all, rice coffee is commonly made in households in Nueva Ecija. It is not a new product and it is very easy to do. All that is needed is to roast some rice, boil the same, and presto, one has rice coffee.

But that did not discourage Letty to pursue her project of making rice coffee and selling the same through sari-sari stores and other outlets. She confesses, however, that selling rice coffee to outlets such as groceries and other stores was no easy task. She had to endure discouraging remarks, including insults. Who would buy your rice coffee? This was one of the usual remarks she encountered.