Amadeo: After watching its neighbours become global coffee heavyweights, the Philippines is taking tentative steps towards regaining its status as a formidable grower of the bean. However, that era is a long way back for the Philippines, among the top five coffee exporters in the world in the 1880s after Spanish friars brought beans with them to their colonial outpost. The Philippine Coffee Board, an industry group spearheading the revival attempt, knows the country can not compete with the likes of current regional exporting giants Indonesia and Vietnam in volume. So they are aiming for niche markets and targeting the fast-growing number of young Filipinos who crowd cafes across the country of 93 million people.