Live in the Philippines

Live in the Philippines helps expats with visas, moving and other services regarding the Philippines.

Coffee in the Philippines

Food/Drink / by

First I’ll be honest; coffee wasn’t exactly my number one priority in the 70’s and 80’s as my ships came in and out of the Philippines. As I remember Navy Issue coffee was once the finest coffee you could get. I retired in 1986 so I can’t speak to the quality of the coffee after that. But I do know that a 40 Pound of coffee could be traded for just about anything. I was on a Replenishment ship and pulled into Subic, went to the motor pool and with a can of coffee, I got the use a Government truck for two weeks while sitting in port.(On base use only) My Division Officer asked me where I got it, “Sir, don’t ask and you are protected!”

But outside the gate instant coffee was king; brewed coffee was never found even in really good hotels. When I moved to Olongapo in 1994 ground coffee was impossible to find. Until I met a Chief Steward named Tom Dryden and we were talking about it on the ship (USNS San Jose). Tom owned a hotel and restaurant in the Barrio and he served a local coffee called “Café Puro” which after trying it I found it to be quite nice. I know that Sir Bob Martin likes gourmet coffee and has information on where to get it here in the Philippines. I’m only talking about ground coffee, like Folgers, Chock-Full-of-Nuts, and other commercial brands of coffee. So for years I’d stop by Tom’s restaurant and buy a few pounds, and have a meal, meet some friends and drink a cocktail or two.

But at home, my wife and daughters drank instant coffee every morning, while I made brewed coffee every day, as I never developed a taste for instant powered coffee in a jar. Also de-caffeinated coffee of any type makes absolutely no sense to me, what is the point?  It’s like drinking non-alcoholic beer, hell just drink water because we all know that phony beer is horrible.    

Coffee Bean Stores
Coffee Bean Stores

Now at my house, brewed coffee is still only drunk by me and instant coffee by all Filipino’s, but away from the house “Starbuck’s” is all they want. At the mall on Subic we, of course, have Starbucks, and beside it “The Coffee Bean” both coffee places are wildly popular with Filipinos, but instant coffee is still consumed at home. Did you ever notice in the United States you’ll find a Starbucks more often than you could find a Sari-Sari Store in the Philippines?

In Boston, Dunkin Donuts is the number one selling coffee. If you want coffee, just say Dunkies and they’ll know what you want. That doesn’t apply to the Dunkin Donuts here as most have no coffee at all. The west coast tried to invade Boston with overpriced liberal crap, the funny thing is Boston is a liberal city. But ordering coffee: in New England, all we say is “REGULAR” meaning cream and sugar or black and sweet. There are no verbal essays required to order coffee in Boston.

At the mall in Subic, the Coffee Bean has on their menu one item that simply says “American Coffee” that requires less than three words to order. It is the place where you’ll find me!

But coffee is a personal thing no matter whom you are or where you’re from. If you like Instant coffee, Brewed coffee or Fancy Dancy coffee then just enjoy it, your opinion is the only one that really matters.

De-caffeinated coffee, I’ll just wonder why, and will never serve it to a fellow human being!

In 1880, the Philippines was the fourth largest exporter of coffee beans. Coffee production in competitor regions of Brazil, Africa and Java (Until the Blight hit and destroyed the coffee industry here)

And now for that “Only in the Philippines Moment,” I took our new Golden Lab puppy (Max named for the size of his feet) to the Vet for de-worming, and shots. While sitting there I picked up a bag of ground coffee on their pet products shelf, in surprise, I asked my vet if this was for dogs? She started laughing and said it was for human beings. I bought a bag or no reader of LiP would ever believe me again.  It was good, and Not in stock on my next visit. I’m here for the duration!  

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • I never understood why the “Barako” ground coffee is not more popular in the Philippines. It seems to me if Starbucks were interested in selling a good product while helping the country, it would carry the good Philippine brews.

    • I agree. I think it is a status symbol for a lot of Filipinos as if to say, “I have money to buy Starbucks coffee.”

  3. I’m surprised you didn’t mention barako coffee which is as native as you can get, and it’s very enjoyable. As for good commercial brands of ground coffee available at the supermarkets, Culinary Exchange isn’t too shabby.

    • Rick;
      I’m a plain brand ground coffee drinker in my imitation MR COFFEE Machine, regular brands are what I prefer. Bob Martin, is the fancy coffee drinker, he wrote about it last year.

  5. Tim Horton’s just opened in Manila…
    I don’t get the fascination Canadians have about the place, but they love their coffee.
    Just another option coming to a mall near you!

  6. Non alcoholic beer has a purpose Paul. While living in a “dry” country on the Arab peninsula which will remain nameless, I heard of guys buy caseloads of the stuff, transfer it to large buckets, add sugar (molasses sugar for darker beer), a little yeast, allow a little time to pass, bottle it, settle it for a week or so, and I can assure you…er…I mean I was reliably assured…you can buy worse beer in some pubs. I of course, was never one of those criminal lawbreaking types who would flout the laws of their host country and get delightfully drunk every Thursday evening and remain in a state of gentle relaxedness until the new week dawned on Saturday morning. 🙂 Neither was I one of those equally disgraceful types who could apparently obtain Johnnie Walker Scotch readily, because that would be a wrong thing to do.

    Have a great day!

    • Jim;
      For years my ships (Civilian) operated in the area, because of my stateroom being well stocked I never did encounter a dry area. Or sitting in a club in Bahrain watching the drunk non drinkers who just traveled across the causeway. with their Religious hypocrisy each and every Friday night.

  7. I have been drinking Nestle’s Cream Latte…a mild cream and sugar type flavor and very close to what i drank back home…If u like cream and sugar coffee… try a cup..

    • Lenny;
      If instant coffee is your cup of tea. (Oh come on that’s funny!) But if it pleases you that is good enough for the world.It would be easier if I liked instant coffee.

  8. Paul, you essay is right on. I found the same thing in India: to locals “coffee” meant instant coffee; to expats the exact opposite was true. One day at work a local asked, “Why is there no coffee available today?” I answered, “There is; it’s right there, freshly brewed.” Ans she said, “No, No. Coffee! Coffee!” Most expats around the world regard instant coffee as a very poor substitute for real coffee, consumed only when real coffee is not available.

    • Murphy;
      I wonder as I sailed the world suffering with instant coffee being their first choice as you said, id it has something to do with the cost of real coffee? A study should be made, but I’m busy right now! (LOL)

      • I got a couple of pounds in SM Megamall Grocery last month when we were in Manila. Try the SM in Olongapo or San Fernando they probably have it. Came prepared this trip and brought the coffee press since I knew the AirBnB would have a real Electric Kettle (they only work on 220V the ones here stateside take forever). Was in Manila for 3 weeks and only had to drink instant coffee at the in-laws a couple of times.

        Now if we could just get restaurants to learn there is Ice Tea other than Litpon Powder for those of us from South of the Mason-Dixon Line. UGHHH!

    • Dan;
      I’m going to hazard a guess that instant coffee is not on your list of things that are great! (LOL) There is a Robinson’s 45 minutes away, I’ll check it out. Thank you!

  15. There is some beautiful coffee now coming out of the local industry. I have been a coffee grower/trader/consultant overseas for almost 30 years and I can safely say Philippine Arabica has come a long way again. Try the Benguets or coffees from the Mountains of Luzon and you will be surprized how good they are!

    • Anton;
      Not surprised at all, as to the quality, just surprised that the make such a secret as to it’s availability here on Luzon. As I said above, I found one in my Vets office? Not the best marketing plan!

  16. Hi Paul,

    Excellent article! I swill coffee like I used to swill beer. As a result I am extremely un-picky. I enjoy Filipino 3-in-1 instant as well as brewed coffee. We had a “house blessing”/pot-luck/birthday party. After dinner one of the guest brewed some of our ground coffee and it was served to all who wanted. Many compliment were given for my excellent choice of coffee. The coffee was in fact Folger’s from a big red tub I bought at Sam’s Club.

    I completely agree with you on decaffeinated coffee and non-alcoholic alcoholic beverages. My sister likes to serve non-alcoholic wine at Thanksgiving. I once said isn’t that the same thing as grape juice, but now I just go with water and keep my mouth shut as I was reminded by my wife how rude I was later.

    Peace

    Jay

    • Hi Jay;
      Coffee is an personal choice, when visiting someone I’ve learned (As you said) to hut up and drink the instant coffee. But Decaf, i’ll sneak to the sink and say goodbye to it.
      My wife also keeps me in-check! (LOL)

  19. Wikipedia says the Philippines produced 25k metric tons in 2014, but consumes 100k metric tons annually. I’m curious why production isn’t higher? It would seem like an excellent opportunity for PH businesses to grow their domestic and export businesses.

    • Most of the coffee grown at present is Robusto. Robusto beans are primarily used in instant coffee. Probably why it’s so hard to find a good local grown coffee is the two species grow in different conditions and the farmers are still refining the growing techniques.

    • I have bought some good locally grown Arabica green coffee beans (I road beans myself). Over the years of doing that, I have seen significant improvement in the quality.

    • I tried some local grown Arabica also but it was already roasted. It was ok but didn’t have the flavor of coffee grown elsewhere. But that is to be expected. Cultivating techniques take time to learn and I forsee the Philippine coffee becoming some of the best in the world. I was looking into coffee as a crop for me and my wife to plant at our farm. Think we are going to put Cacao instead.

      • Scott;
        In 1880, the Philippines was the fourth largest exporter of coffee beans. Coffee production in competitor regions of Brazil, Africa and Java (Until the Blight hit and destroyed the coffee industry here)
        Maybe they’ve been waiting for you?

  21. Hello Paul,

    Since being married, I’ve grown accustomed to brewed coffee. I’m not really a coffee drinker. I am a caffeine addict. Coffee is my delivery system of choice, and I’m not picky. I can probably thank the Army for that. The Army version of brewed coffee is a pound of ground, government issue coffee, boiled in a 10 gallon bucket and transferred to an insulated dispenser. This was in garrison and in the field, if you were lucky enough to be near the mess tent. Away from the mess tent, it was the little packets of instant coffee in the C-rats, and later, the MRE’s.

    When I was deployed, I ran convoys across the sand. This was in the days before the Army put air conditioners in all their trucks. We had a little fan mounted on the dashboard. When we stopped for a break, we would dip a small can of diesel fuel from the tank, and put it in a small hole we scooped in the sand. We’d pull the grill off of that little fan, and place it over the burning can of diesel. That was good enough to boil a canteen cup of water for the instant coffee. After 6 months of that, I was longing for a nice cup of brewed coffee.

    When I got home and had that first cup of real brewed coffee, I was disappointed in it, and couldn’t figure out why. It took a while, but I finally realized that I missed the film of diesel smoke from the lip of the cup.

    A couple decades later, I’m weaned from the diesel smoke. I appreciate coffee in whatever form I get it.

    Take care,
    Pete

    • Pete;
      As my two Army son’s tell me: “It’ not cushy like your ship’s Dad!
      Coffee is brewed fresh all day like a Coffee Shop, or there is hell to pay. Late at night there are Mr. Coffee Machines all over the ship for that fresh coffee for the Mid to 0400 watch. I know Army coffee is the same, so I’ll guess its how you brew it. (LOL)