My Life with Coffee

I’m no coffee cognoscenti but I could definitely say that coffee has figured itself quite significantly in my life in different ways and in every facet. Whether it was instant or gourmet, coffee left imprints in my life like cup stains on the pages of my favorite book.

I had my first cup of kapeng barako as early as I can remember. My mother’s family, being from Batangas, was never without coffee during mornings. I grew up with my Nanay Linda (my maternal grandmother) and despite old folk’s tales about coffee stunting your growth she even taught me how to enjoy my coffee by dunking in my pandesal. For a time there I thought it was really true because as the years passed, I started to realize that indeed I never got out of the beginning of the line during flag ceremonies. But of course, other than coffee, if caffeine really did play a role in my “tiny-ness”, there were other more legit reasons behind it. Nevertheless, even if I was being taunted by my family with things like “Hala ka, hindi ka na tatangkad…” they couldn’t budge my cup.

Coffee with my Nanay paints that beautiful memory of blissful breakfasts of champorado with tuyo, pandesal and of course coffee. Our lola-apo tradition of completing the nine dawn masses before Christmas was never complete without a mug of instant coffee that we would share since we always had limited time to catch the 4AM misa de gallo. When I was a kid, I remember that instant coffee at the Jonson household was either Folgers or Maxwell. Back in the 80s, my grandfather was head of the plant quarantine inspection so he always brought home a lot of PX goods.

In High School, coffee was a big punch line that has grown to be a running joke until now among the barkada. Whenever we get together, the story about our group, playing hooky at one of the nearby beach resorts, and getting experimental with gin and tonic is a classic anecdote. We could never forget how all of us, mere (innocent but not quite) 16 year-olds, obviously with no legal rights to drink, went on a major panic as we scoured the place for coffee to revive one of our friends who totally got whacked with alcohol. We were all so nervous that as soon as we got our hands on the coffee, we drank it all up while arguing with each other about whose fault was it, forgetting that there was still an unconscious person lying on the bench. So we had to get coffee again and this time while P (that’s her initial) was already a bit awake, she immediately asked for her cup. We served it right away, forgetting of course to warn her that it was steaming hot. The next scene was a classic slapstick comedy scene. Coffee spraying out into our faces, and the worse part was seeing her throw up all the French fries that she ate that afternoon. I could never forget my friend J’s quip, “Grabe, buo pa yung French fries oh!” She wasn’t exaggerating.

In college, coffee befriended cigarettes, and the relationship lasted for years into my professional writing life until I became a Christian. Yosi break at MTV was always with a styro cup of Nescafe. After which the little puddle of coffee left inside the cup becomes a good cigarette extinguisher. Instant ashtray.

Coffee and cigarettes made perfect sense while I was living the brooding life (kuno) of a Creative Writing student in UP Diliman. I found poetry in the swirls of my cigarette smoke dancing with the steam lazily escaping my caffeine-filled nocturnal elixir. I was mostly melancholic during college. Obvious ba? I remember there was this guy who broke my heart in Social Dance class; swept me off my feet in Tango; wrote me letters (with his hand, ha!) from Bohol that one long summer; then suddenly staled out like a cup of coffee that has been sitting for a day… Oh yeah, he became my husband. =) Hehe. Our coffee love story later…

Anyway, speaking of love, coffeehouses played a big role in my love life. Even though Seattle’s Best has the most painfully sweet coffee I have ever tasted, I had the most bitter and most awful breakup in their Megamall branch. This guy who I have been stupidly and blindly dating for about two years suddenly tells me that he cannot go on seeing me anymore because he was too ashamed to be seen in public with someone “short”. Huuuwaaaat? I swear, in my Ally Mcbeal moment, that steaming hot java would have been burning lava melting his fugly face. Of course, in reality I was just too stunned to speak. I was unable to believe that such evil people exist, and worse I was dating one of them ogres for the past 2 years! Was it too much coffee?

I had better experiences at Starbucks. At least here, I was able to stage the greatest revenge of the love-scorned woman. I remember it was at the 6750 branch. It was a perfect afternoon to make someone pay up for breaking someone’s heart. I don’t want to get into details. Let’s just say, the scheme was a perfect blend that was brewed for about a year. Enough said.

Anyway, I have always been a Starbucks sister. From blind dates to work meetings; from girl bonding to enjoying my short mocha alone, Starbucks has become a part of my lifestyle. It kinda bugs me though that I got caught up with the whole commercialism of gourmet espresso. I find the whole latte lingo too pretentious. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the variety of frapuccinos and macchiatos, but honestly I just get lost in the whole decaf-double-tall-hazelnut-non-fat-with-a-shot-of-mocha-latte semantics. Fortunately for us here in Manila, the Starbucks Baristas aren’t as rigid as their American counterparts. One time in New York, I just really wanted a simple short mocha, but it seemed that the barista just couldn’t take that kind of order. He kept asking me for more details. And in my sheer frustration, I just shot him with a “Surprise me!”

I don’t remember having major moments at Figaro, aside from the fact it was my daily coffee during my year-long stay at GMA7. There was a Figaro stall on the 2nd floor of the network’s building so it was the Kapuso’s quick caffeine fix. I also had fond memories over at Figaro Dela Costa in Makati. For a time, back when the Alta Productions peeps, my former colleagues, were still aplenty, that coffeehouse sort of became their version of Central Perk. And speaking of such famous TV coffee joint, of course I had to blame my café culture infatuation on the show FRIENDS. Believe me… I have watched EVERY episode – all 10 seasons. Yes, I am a FAN!



If coffeehouses were bat caves for barkadas, I also smelled the aroma of romance in a café called Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Remember that guy who broke my heart in college? Well, nine years after his last latte-flavored letter left the taste of latak on my mouth, we met again. This time, the bitterness was gone and I was actually looking forward to our first coffee chat, which went through several postponements before finally coming through.

So we had our casual reunion “date” at Coffee Bean. When did coffee ever become romantic? I mean seriously, I have gone through several books and internet sites about coffee, hunting for a Romeo & Juliet type of story that revolved around maybe an Arabica bean, but there was none. Tell me if there’s one, will you?

Anyway, as I was there sitting across Joseph over cups of mocha and chai latte, it just felt comfortable. I couldn’t even feel the pain anymore. That night was just filled with stirring conversations about everything and anything, EXCEPT about college. Hehe, we obviously intended (and probably agreed without telling each other) to skirt around the issue. That night at the Coffee Bean opened that proverbial door that led us to NOW. Of course like any love story, we had conflicts (lots of them) that runneth our cup, to the point that we even had our major break up YET AGAIN in the same café where our revival romance brewed. It was August 23, 2006. I wrote that on my Bible because it was also the day that I finally, really seriously, surrendered my life to the Lord. That break-up at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf led me to Christ.

God was indeed faithful because he brought back Joseph into my life – the 3rd time. So I guess the saying is true for me that the 3rd time’s a charm. Joseph and I value Coffee Bean’s significance in our love story, well COFFEE as a whole for that matter, that we decided to use it as a theme for our wedding. Hence, the brown & pink color motif. Our wedding tokens were coffee beans in jute bags for the guests, and coffee scented tea light candle in glass cup votives for the principal sponsors. Aside from UP, we had our 2nd pre-nup pictorial over at Starbucks too.



Actually, it was supposed to be Coffee Bean but unfortunately that day, it was Maundy Thursday I think, the Coffee Bean Tomas Morato branch (our café) was closed. So we ended up trooping over to the nearby Starbucks who indeed was the king of capitalist caffeine. The fact that they were open on Holy Week while nobody else was making business says a lot. Hehe. But that aside, Starbucks still turned out to be a blessing. We had to do the shoot that day or it’s bust. Through the lenswork of my good friend Arleen Bacay, our coffee romance was captured perfectly in black and white snapshots.



Our friend Avie gave us 14 kilos of coffee beans for our wedding giveaways so we certainly had a lot of extra to bring home to our new abode. Now that we’re married, our day always begins with freshly brewed kapeng barako sipped through early morning smiles and laughter. By God’s grace, we’ll still be able to do this ‘til we’ve become old beans ourselves.