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USD $1 ā‚± 56.28 0.0000 March 27, 2024
March 26, 2024
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Department of Coffee: Savour Only the Best

Tucked in a small nook in San Juan's commercial-residential district, this coffee shop is home to a proudly Filipino brand of specialty coffee

Department of Coffee is a small nook tucked into the ground floor in San Juan’s commercial-residential district, noticeable from the streets thanks to its logo and black-and-white wall art. The interior of the coffee shop gives off a comfortable, forest-y feel with various wood carvings of stags and birds put together by the owner’s brother adorning its walls. All this is home to a proudly Filipino brand of specialty coffee creatively and industriously brought to life by Myles Hontiveros.

“My education of specialty coffee originated from the United States,” he shares. “My learnings led me to realise that the quality of the coffee that we have available on a mainstream level here in the Philippines is not yet close to what I had encountered in small coffee shops in the States. I thought to myself that when I move back to the Philippines, I would utilise my learnings and my experience to put up something small but quality-oriented. I wanted to put up something that I could expose to the Filipinos as an expression of what is really good coffee.”

 

According to Hontiveros, specialty coffee originates from Portland, Oregon. “Specialty coffee is knowing what coffee is and knowing what you are drinking,” he adds. “It’s knowing how fresh your coffee is, what kind of brew technique you’re using and knowing where your beans were roasted. It’s really an education on one of the most sellable beverages in the entire world.” He gets his grade AA beans fresh from friends who are in the roasting business. Brew techniques used in this store are the French press and pour overs.

What ultimately pushed Hontiveros to pursue this venture is his main project, which is the distributorship of espresso machines. “How can I sell this machine when I don’t have firsthand experience on the use of it and what goes into it? That’s what I asked myself.”

Pastries play a big part in the development of Department of Coffee as well. Hontiveros used to source his products from third-party distributors, but gave that up when he wanted a different quality for his pastries and ended up deciding to do even his baking in-house.

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To start, he had us sample some items from the espresso-based menu. “All of our items on the espresso menu contain a double-shot espresso, seventeen grams of ground coffee,” Hontiveros explains. “We can also give you just a single shot, but we will not decrease the coffee in terms of grams to give you a cheaper price.” The basic Espresso (P80) packs a powerful and premium quality punch at just 2 fl.oz., which is enough to give you that much needed caffeine kick. The brew is simply divine; there is no room for false promises in this area. For those who would like a more subdued taste, the Cappucino (P120) at +4 fl.oz does the trick quite nicely. According to Hontiveros, the espresso should be taken first, with another more subdued drink couple with a matching pastry following afterward.

Espresso
 
 
Cappucino
 

The Classic Croissant (P40) is an absolute steal at its affordable price. This is the pastry that Department of Coffee is quite known for. I loved how flaky and crisp the pastry was; you can also tell that it was made using real butter as soon as you bite into it. The Almond Croissant (P80) is a subtly sweeter variant, bringing a different flavour to the perfect basic. The Banana Nut Rolled Oat Cookies (P70) reminds me of my favourite breakfast oatmeal in cookie form. The cookie is pleasantly chewy and quite flavourful as well.

Classic Croissant
 
 
Almond Croissant
 
Banana Nut Rolled Oat Cookies
 

The star of the show – in my opinion, at least! – was the Banana Bread Caramel (P100). I’ve always loved banana bread in any form, but Department of Coffee’s take on it is definitely one for the records. The bread is moist and soft, and its flavour is beautifully heightened by the light drizzling of caramel on top.

Banana Bread Caramel
 

Hontiveros has plenty of other plans for his specialty coffee brand. He is currently setting up a newer, bigger branch where he can practise other brewing techniques as well as set up a training facility for baristas who would like to get an education in the coffee business. “So many people who want to learn cannot afford the fees, which is why I would be more than happy to let baristas-in-the-making undergo training at my facility for free,” he shares. “This is all in line with my goal to educate Filipinos more about knowing what good coffee is.”

 

With Hontiveros’ visions and efforts for his craft on deck, the future of specialty coffee in the Philippines is nothing but bright.   

 

FolloDepartment of Coffee is located at 197 Wilson Street, San Juan, Metro Manila. Follow Department of Coffee on Instagram (@departmentofcoffee).

 

 

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