Last December 14, 2017, the contract signing between One World and Seven Seas Culinary Inc. and Malongo Atelier Barista was held at Buenavista, Raffles Hotel Makati. Malongo is a French Living Heritage Company, a prestigious label that singles out the French expertise of excellence. The café sells beautifully designed machines and exceptional coffee in the form of beans, grounds or in pods. Stylish and friendly, understated and rich with the history of coffee, these cafes are a cozy stop off for urban dwellers. The very first Malongo café in Asia will be opened in Greenbelt Hamilton Tower, Legazpi Village this coming 2018.
Once a small roasting house in a district of Nice, Malongo is a family firm that started out in the 1930s. Today, Malongo is the leading actor for fair trade coffees and bio-coffees. A dynamic and atypical SME, it is recognized by professionals and individuals alike for the quality of its coffee and the strength of its ethical commitments. The unique quality culture of Malongo served as the basis for its values towards the preservation of its roasted coffee, respect for the people growing the plants and customer satisfaction. The brand produces 7,000 tons of coffee each year and has remained attached to its roots of good traditional coffee. Quality ethics and commitment to people being key holders to its success.
In 1980, central management was entrusted to Mr. Jean-Pierre Blanc, an Economics graduate who had engaged in fair trade since the early 1990s. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Max-Havelaar France, an association of international solidarity. It represents the Fairtrade movement composed equally of civil society organizations for producers both from the North and South. Fair-trade is an alternative approach to conventional trade based on a partnership between producers & traders and businesses & consumers. It aims to implement fairer trading terms. It empowers and provides producers to combat poverty, strengthen their capacities and take their future in hand.
As Managing Director of the Malongo Atelier Barista, Mr. Jean-Pierre Blanc met Padre Francisco Van der Hoff, founder of fair trade on a Mexican coffee region in 1992. Following this meeting, Malongo became the first French brand committed to the fair-trade movement by working with small growers and launching long-term investment in this field. Malongo is the first and the oldest French firm to use the Max-Havelaar fair trade label.
The first Max-Havelaar certified product available on the French market, the “Café des petits producteurs” (Coffee for small producers) is still the best-selling fair-trade item in France. The brand purchased 36 different origins of green coffee under fair trade conditions in 2011. More than half of Malongo coffees and 100% of Malongo teas hold organic AB certification, applying strict specifications guaranteeing that the product was produced without fertilizers or pesticides, among other aspects. Malongo continues to be pro-active in producing countries to help new cooperatives in obtaining certification. It currently offers in its catalog 28 origins of Max-Havelaar labeled coffee (54% of its imports in value) from 14 countries.
Being the leading French company for top of the range coffee, Malongo is omnipresent throughout the production process, from the plantations right to the customer’s cup of coffee. Malongo imports its coffee beans from the best plantations around the world. Grown according to traditional farming methods, Malongo offers coffees from small-scale farming, cultivated in the shade of high altitude plantations. Each bean is picked by hand, in order that only perfectly mature beans are harvested.
The extraction method most frequently used by Malongo is the “wet process”, the best method when it is followed by particularly careful drying. All Malongo coffees are roasted using slow, gradual and traditional techniques in 20 minutes. Lavished with the attention of a master roaster, it allows the greatest Arabicas to reveal all the finesse of their aromas. The beans are then air cooled, and never titrate more than 2% humidity. The coffee is shipped to the Malongo factory in jute sacks, which are stacked in insulated containers. After a check on its origin, it is tasted with meticulous care by the quality managers and then stocked in silos.
Being the first to market vacuum-packed coffee in 1950 and then in metal tins in 1965, Malongo continues to push back the boundaries of quality, technology and service. Malongo coffees are always vacuum-packed in metal tins, soft packs or individual pods. This guarantees that the freshness of the aromas will not be impaired in any way. The brand has undertaken far-reaching research projects to offer coffee packaging that always and increasingly respects the freshness of the aromas. The winner of several Oscars for packaging, Malongo is now putting its full force behind eco-design.
Malongo’s Research & Development laboratory has also developed a complete range of professional machines suitable for ground coffee, coffee beans or individual pods. These models are available from the most compact to the most efficient. They are specifically designed so that the aromas of the coffee express every stage in the long and meticulous process that they have undergone.
Since 1997, the 1,2,3 Spresso® pod and machine pairing has been one of the most sublime expressions of the brand. On the very competitive home espresso market, it stands above the rest for its 16 bars of pressure, astounding range of sources available on its menu (coffee from 60 various sources and 50 teas from 40 countries on five continents) and its sustainable nature (pods made of 100% natural fibres, thus completely compostable). A concentrate of aromas and flavors, the 1,2,3, Spresso® individual serving system has revolutionized the art of coffee at home…and in the café!
Malongo is a “French Living Heritage Company”, a prestigious label that singles out French expertise of excellence. The brand targets an audience of connoisseurs, those who love exclusive products and shun anything mass-produced. Malongo’s reputation is built on offering customers products of the highest quality combined with fast-efficient service. The café sells beautifully designed machines and exceptional coffee in the form of beans, grounds or in pods. Customers can enjoy a coffee cocktail, tea or select a coffee for made-to-measure grinding by an expert. Truly, Malongo Atelier Barista is an escape to a haven of relaxation and comfort. Stylish and friendly, understated and rich with the history of coffee, these cafes are a cozy stop off for urban dwellers.
Malongo will be opening its first ever café in the Philippines come 2018. Its first branch will be located right in the heart of the Makati Central Business District at the modern and contemporary Greenbelt Hamilton Tower, Legazpi Village.
For more updates, please see the official social media accounts below:
Facebook: malongoph
Instagram: malongoph
Congratulations for Mangolo Coffee for this milestone. Hope they could also open in BGC after the Makati opening.
Mangolo coffee sounds like a coffee lover’s dream! Exciting that they’re opening a branch in the Philippines soon
I love coffee and have had to give it up or lay off it for health reasons and this sounds like a dream. I would love to go and def indulge in coffee.
Mangolo coffee sounds great, congratulations on the achievement. I hope to get a chance to try it out soon.
This cafe sounds like a perfect place for coffe lovers! I’d like to try one of those coffee cocktails too.
Congratulation. This looks and sounds fantastic! Hopefully I’ll get to taste one very soon!
I love hearing about more companies embracing the Fair-Trade Movement. I wish we had a Mangolo Coffee location here in California. It would be very popular!
OOh I hope that they will have decaf coffee as I love coffee but can only have non-caffeine versions! I am glad to hear tat Malongo will be opening its first ever café in the Philippines in 2018.
Malongo sounds like an amazing coffee brand. The events soundd awesome and the history is inspiring. Thanks for sharing with Us!
Glad to read about more companies with the fair-trade and eco-friendly mentality. ESPECIALLY coffee, as the mass production of coffee is really sadly damaging to local environments. Thank you for sharing.
This was so interesting to read! I love coffee, but had no idea what went into making it so delicious! I never knew about the “wet process” extraction method .
Congrats to Malongo coffee brand! I am not personally a coffee drinker, but great for Malongo for opening up in Asia!
I would love to try Mangolo coffee. I am a huge coffee lover. I am always looking for new brands to try.
My sister and I are always looking for new coffee shops to try! I have a feeling this would be a big hit.
Congrats for its partnership. Another cafe to be expected in 2018. Would be nice if this French brand would incorporate locally produced coffee beans, and not all imported beans.
Oh wow thank you for sharing a bit of the history and process of the coffee. Id love to try malongo coffee because it sounds great.
I think this is really cool! I like trying out coffee shops and see how it differs from the others.
This definitely sounds like quite the accomplishment. I love everything coffee and so this was interesting.
Mangolo is thriving as any company that prides in delivering quality products should. Congratulations to then on their success.
What an amazing journey you’ve had and achieved to get to this point. Your coffee sound scrumptious and the fact it’s fair trade is lovely, well done and wish you every success for 2018.
congrats Malongo. Hopefully, there are more shops to come. It’ll be a great place for friends to meet up and have a chat.
This machine performs as described, and produces a nice espresso. I have some observations related to some other reviews. The first is that it is true the steam arm is too short. This is workable, you just have to think about your pitcher size and depth or just the level of milk. Also, several people have complained about the lack of a hard puck after drawing the shot(s). I think this is a misconception about the way the espresso basket assembly is designed to work. This assembly is more complex at the outlet to regulate the flow without complete dependence on the pressure used in tamping. After experimenting with this, it seems that there is a good range of coffee compression that works just fine. I would call this a plus for the average user. It also means that suggestions to buy a separate tamper are unnecessary. The built in tamper works just fine for this machine. One other thing to note, is that for the first several uses, a bit more water comes through before you activate the pump than you might expect. This stopped after something like 10 uses on my machine. Summary: Just use it according to the included directions. You will have great product with ease of use and cleaning. This is a great value! This is one gadget that hardly takes up any space, so it is easy to keep out or store as you wish. Best kitchen gadget I have ever purchased.
Haven’t tried this yet. Will be checking out reviews of their machines. Hope they’re not as pricey as others on the market!
Wow – 7,000 tons of coffee each year is a lot of coffee! Obviously major players in the coffee industry, it was really interesting to hear a bit of the history of Malongo. There is certainly a lot of passion and dedication there to get them to where they are today.
This sounds like a great company. I love to see businesses using fair trade practices and taking our world into account when doing their business.
That is so cool that they were the first to freeze dry coffee. And I also didn’t realize freeze dried coffee had been around for so long!
How’s the partnership now, I wonder? Also, as a person who likes coffee, it’s a delight to me to be able to learn more about the behind the scenes and the business of it.
Mangolo coffee!!! YES!!!! And congrats to all the work. Fair trade is wonderful. I try to purchase as many products that mention it. Thank you for opening my eyes to another fair trade complany.
That’s amazing and Congratulations to the Malongo coffee brand. Hoping for more shops to come and I’d love to visit one someday and try their coffee.
i don’t think i had ever heard of Malongo before. Sounds like a coffee my mom would love to try. Wonder if it’s in the States.
I don’t know much about coffee, since I don’t drink it. But Sounds like a great company. This was posted about 2.5 years ago, have you had a chance to visit the cafe yet in person?
Nice to know about Malongo. They are into the business for quite long number of years, interesting. About such a great deal of varieties they take care of, its a treat for the coffee lovers.
Coffee my beverage of choice. They sound like they been in the business for ever.
I love me some coffee! The story of their business is really interesting! They’ll definitely be successful with all the coffee lovers.
A lot has gone into us being able to take this awesome little drink for granted. Coffee is a staple around here.
I love to try different kinds of coffee from all over the world. Thank you for sharing their social media, I just followed their Instagram and found a shop so I can hopefully purchase some online!
Congratulations for Mangolo Coffee for this milestone. Hope they could also open in Africa soon.
Nnnniiiicccceeeeee…..I am all in for Malongo coffee!
sign me up. i’m a huge lover of coffee.
Thanks a lot for introducing Malongo! I’m looking for a lot of coffee brands to get their concept and make something even more advanced in the industry. This brings me a lot of info.
I would try this brand of coffee. I would make it into a latte!