Tatoosh Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 Looking for decent local coffee? Better than 3-n-1 instant but not as expensive as Starbucks? Might try Garcia's, the most popular coffee roaster in Baguio City. I was a Starbucks guy for years but I changed to the local stuff. I like my coffee with cream and sugar, so I go for a bolder, darker roast to help the flavor cut through my adulterations. Their local House Blend dark roast is pretty good. No, it's not quite the equivalent of Starbucks best roasts, but it is quite drinkable and a kilo of it costs less than a 1/4 kilo of the Starbucks stuff. Garcia's House Blend - Dark: 240 pesos a kilo. Starbucks Verona: 350 pesos 250 grams. (If my memory is correct)I am sure there are other blends being roasted else where in the Philippines and for the many coffee drinkers here, it would be to share the info. So if you have an outfit roasting coffee that you enjoy, share it! We all need a cup of good joe now and again, wherever we happen to be.So better than 3-n-1 instant types and most of the locally brewed stuff I've run into. They have other blends and roasts as well. Plus the infamously pricy Kape Alamid. So we have an amazing array of coffee grown here in the Philippines to chose from depending on your taste buds and wallet. Hint: Is your coffee too bitter? A simple solution: Salt. Yep, a small pinch of salt in your coffee tricks your taste buds and removes much of the bitterness. I regularly add a very small pinch of salt to my coffee. That means I don't need much sugar to sweeten it to my taste. You can play around with the amount of salt, but start small. It doesn't take much to cut the harshness and you sure don't want your coffee tasting salty at all. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jollygoodfellow Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 As a matter of interest, wasn't there at one time or maybe still is a coffee produced by monks there in the Philippines somewhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bundy Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 Like you, i love my coffee and when i'm in Cebu it's always been a real challenge to brew a decent cup at home. I can't stand any of the instant coffees there and the 3 in one well i won't touch that.You say you like cream and sugar, well i like latte's, that is made with real milk and that's the biggest challenge when you can't always get fresh milk..I've tried UHT and the Alaska powdered milks but it's hard to get the same taste. Also like you i'm not prepared to buy a bag of beans from Starbucks or any other coffee shop cos it's just too expensive.I gave up trying to buy "fresh" beans from supermarkets because IMO they don't know what "fresh" is so i started experimenting with preground. The best i've found so far in a local coffee is "Monks Blend". Have you tried it? it's really not bad. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatoosh Posted January 22, 2012 Author Posted January 22, 2012 I have not tried Monk's Blend. Never even heard of it but I will keep my eye open, particularly if I get back to Cebu. You say there isn't any fresh milk in Cebu, but I'm pretty sure there is a working dairy farm near Cebu. There are a number of them on Luzon as well. They have a dairy farm here in Baguio City too. The milk won't stay good for more than 4 days, but it is definitely fresh! Check around, I bet their is fresh milk, just that the UHT stuff is by far the most popular here. Which sucks on a number of levels. For the coffee, do you have your own grinder? Buy the beans roasted and keep them in a dark cold place (refrigerator) and grind as you need them. Much fresher that way. If what you get is the Robusta or, god forbid, Liberica varieties, it is definitely gonna be harsher. I luvs da' latte too! Vanilla latte to be exact. In the States I kept an expresso machine at home. I even smuggled one to work for awhile and the parts room was also the expresso shop for the mechs and techs. Heh heh, bad me! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyAway Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 In my wifes home town in Mindanao there was a guy selling fresh roasted coffee beans on the street. I mean the steam was still coming off of them. We brought back a kilo here to California. Everyone that tried it commented about how smooth it was. The Java City sales rep was very impressed!Sorry it is not so local to you in Luzon or Cebu. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Support Old55 Posted January 22, 2012 Forum Support Posted January 22, 2012 If ever anyone finds an honest outlet for civet coffee please let me know. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 If ever anyone finds an honest outlet for civet coffee please let me know. Oh Dan, why do you always give me an opportunity to respond with my morbid mind? I had toGoogle "Civet" and learned something new today. No wonder it's expensive and production isdependent upon their bowel movement. Now I can increase the production with my own "Baby Ruth", also clumped very nicely. If anyoneis interested, please contact my business office in Nigeria. It's open 8 days a week. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i am bob Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 If ever anyone finds an honest outlet for civet coffee please let me know. I had a Civet once in Toronto and I thought it tasted like sh*t... Then I was told that it was suppose to be the most blah blah blah blah blah coffee (the blahs are for a 15 minute lecture on how great it was that I tuned out of and heard only the first 20 seconds of)... So I tried it again - this time in Boston - and thought it tasted worse than sh*t... It wasn't until about a year later that I found out what Civet was.... No wonder I thought it tasted like it did! Give me a good Columbian with cream or half-and-half and I'm as happy as a pig in civet sh.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i am bob Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 Speaking of which... Can you get a good Columbian roast there? And please don't insult the rest of the world by saying "Instant".... Ugh! :508: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bundy Posted January 22, 2012 Posted January 22, 2012 (edited) I have not tried Monk's Blend. Never even heard of it but I will keep my eye open, particularly if I get back to Cebu. You say there isn't any fresh milk in Cebu, but I'm pretty sure there is a working dairy farm near Cebu. There are a number of them on Luzon as well. They have a dairy farm here in Baguio City too. The milk won't stay good for more than 4 days, but it is definitely fresh! Check around, I bet their is fresh milk, just that the UHT stuff is by far the most popular here. Which sucks on a number of levels.For the coffee, do you have your own grinder? Buy the beans roasted and keep them in a dark cold place (refrigerator) and grind as you need them. Much fresher that way. If what you get is the Robusta or, god forbid, Liberica varieties, it is definitely gonna be harsher. I luvs da' latte too! Vanilla latte to be exact. In the States I kept an expresso machine at home. I even smuggled one to work for awhile and the parts room was also the expresso shop for the mechs and techs. Heh heh, bad me!I don't spend too much time in Cebu City, that's why i have difficulty finding fresh milk. Yep, i have my own grinder and i use an espresso machine, it's the only way to go. I'm certainly no authority on coffee, i just learn by my own mistakes heh heh. One thing i find is that the type of grinder you use and the way you use it does make a big difference. If you use an espresso machine then a blade grinder is pretty well useless cos to achieve a consistent fine grind with a blade grinder is almost impossible without burning the coffee. You need to use a "burr" grinder.They were selling various beans at Rustans Ayala Cebu and they had them in dispensers kinda like a gumball machine, you just put a bag under the one you want and put as much as you want in it.I tried several but they were all stale. That was when i gave up searching for fresh beans and went to the preground instead. Ground coffee in Australia comes in vacuum sealed packages but i have not seen that in the Philippines either.Even the Monks Blend is not vacuum sealed but every bag i have bought so far has been good.There is another local coffee called "Barako" which apparently has a good reputation. I tried two lots of that and guess what.........yep, stale. So maybe the whole problem of coffee in the Philippines is not the coffee itself but how they package it.Oh yeah, that "Civet" coffee was on sale here for $90 a cup! I don't care if it was 90c i'm not drinking anything that comes out the rear end of a cat! :508: :hystery: Edited January 22, 2012 by Bundy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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