SINGAPORE – FrieslandCampina Professional (FCP) has signed a 10-year sponsorship with the ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF) to be its Founding Partner and exclusive dairy milk brand. The partnership will see FCP and ASEAN Coffee Institute (ACI), ACF’s official coffee training and education body, co-develop a Milk Science module, which will form part of its existing Barista Certification Programmes.
The ACI Barista Certification programmes are structured to suit all levels of coffee practitioners, ranging from junior baristas to café owners to mixologists to sensory experts, and are available across Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The partnership between FCP and ACF is aimed at elevating the professional accreditation of the barista community in ASEAN and to develop the knowledge of milk use in café settings. Milk, as a key ingredient in coffee concoctions, plays an essential role in the taste experience.
With increasing consumer demand for café and coffee experiences, the baristas’ mastery of the art of coffee making is often overlooked.
By co-developing the Milk Science module with ACF, through its official coffee training and education body, ACI, FCP hopes to kick-start a decade of improved appreciation of coffee mastery in ACF’s ASEAN markets, enabled by the knowledge of milk use in café settings.
This follows true to ACI’s objectives to establish coffee quality and standards and providing affordable coffee education across ASEAN.
FCP, part of Royal FrieslandCampina, is one of the world’s biggest dairy companies with 150 years of heritage and has many well-known, retail market-leading dairy brands in the Asia Pacific region, including Dutch Lady, Falcon, Foremost, Alaska, Omela and Frisian Flag.
With more than 100 years of dairy experience and expertise, a full range of coffee and tea solutions under its global and regional brands, and esteemed partnerships over 40 locations across 5 continents, FCP is proud to be the Founding Partner of ACF and ACI for such a meaningful initiative.
“ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF) is pleased to have FrieslandCampina Professional come onboard as one of the Founding Corporate Partners of ASEAN Coffee Institute – the official education arm of ACF. With milk being an important part of coffee, we believe that our partnership will provide fruitful outcomes in elevating the coffee industry through affordable educational programmes”, said Mr. Victor Mah, President of ASEAN Coffee Federation and ASEAN Coffee Institute.
“Our dairy brands have been providing ASEAN consumers, food service professional and industrial customers with high quality products for over a hundred years. We believe in constantly innovating and adding value to our industry partners, so that our consumers continue to enjoy the most up-to-trend beverages. We are excited about our partnership with ACF and ACI and look forward to a decade of equipping and improving the barista mastery,” said Ms. Tracy Fortu, Marketing Lead for Coffee and Tea APAC, FrieslandCampina Professional.
About ASEAN Coffee Federation
ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF) was first conceived by a group of passionate ASEAN coffee industry players who are in constant pursuit of improving and developing the quality of ASEAN’s coffee beans, so as to compete in the world stage.
Established in year 2010, ASEAN Coffee Federation currently represents 10 coffee associations across Southeast Asia as its key members, with 1 other coffee association as associate member from North Asia. The key members are:
Indonesia – (1) Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia and (2) Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters and Industries
Laos – (3) Lao Coffee Association
Malaysia – (4) Malaysia Specialty Coffee Association
Myanmar – (5) Myanmar Coffee Association
Philippines – (6) Philippine Coffee Board
Singapore – (7) Singapore Coffee Association
Thailand – (8) Thai Coffee Association and (9) Barista Association of Thailand
Vietnam – (10) Vietnam Coffee & Cocoa Association
About ASEAN Coffee Institute
In 2021, ACF formed its official coffee training and education body – ASEAN Coffee Institute (ACI). The institute’s objective are to: (i) establish coffee quality and standards for the ASEAN region reaching out to the world (ii) provide affordable coffee education to all (iii) promote sustainability practices to coffee farmers (iv) encourage sustainable sourcing by traders, roasters and cafe owners. For more information, please visit: https://aseancoffeeinstitute.org/
