Something resembling good coffee?

[Jay Smith]

The Philippines is a coffee producing country, so why is it that when I go to the grocery store, no only are there no coffee filters, but the only 'coffee' available is instant??!! BLEH

Anyone have any suggestions for some decent, local, real-not-instant coffee? (Please dont say buy it at Starbucks ) - I'm in Ormoc City and thanks for the ideas

 

[Guy F.]

I sympathize. It's at all the large grocery stores in Tagbilaran. Have you looked at Lazada?

[GeoffH]

13 minutes ago, Jay Smith said:

Anyone have any suggestions for some decent, local, real-not-instant coffee? (Please dont say buy it at Starbucks ) - I'm in Ormoc City and thanks for the ideas

Have you thought about buying coffee beans and grinding them yourself? 

I've got a stove top espresso pot which makes a decent traditional italian style espresso, they're not expensive (mine looks like this one).

https://shopee.ph/Octagon-Shape-Stovetop-Espresso-Maker-Moka-Coffee-Maker-Pot-i.43389961.744046325

[scott h]

28 minutes ago, Jay Smith said:

but the only 'coffee' available is instant??!! BLEH

The stores carry what their customers want to buy.  Instant coffee is a cultural thing. Like Spam and Jeepneys. After the war the country was starving after 2 invasions, 3 years of occupation and poor harvests. The US army came in and just unloaded pallets and pallets of spam, instant coffee, powdered milk and tabasco sauce (notice that on a lot of restaurant tables?) to help feed the population. 

After the war the Philippines was the collection point for all the equipment and other stuff used (and the burial place for US war dead) all the trucks and jeeps were brought here, and eventually given to the locals, hence the jeepneys

[Old55]

Great question Jay. I'm not a big fan of Starbucks ether. 

We got a small bag of Kalsada coffee beans last Christmas at a Mactan resort. The resort had a coffee activity it included several Filipino coffee types. Kalsada can be ordered online in the Philippines. The barista at the resort was kind and ground the beans for us so you may need a grinder.

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by Old55

[GeoffH]

13 minutes ago, Old55 said:

The barista at the resort was kind and ground the beans for us so you may need a grinder.

There are a lot of grinders available on Shoppee, I've not used any of them but cheap electric grinders often don't work great.

A simple hand grinder works for me, although you should know that hand grinders don't grind as fine (that doesn't really matter for stove top pots although it does for coffee machines).

You can heat milk on the stove top to make a flat white if you prefer after you've made an espresso shot (or two) in your stove pot.

Edited October 8, 2020 by GeoffH

[expatuk2014]

We have a coffee grinder/brewer cost 3000 pesos from HMR original price 6000 works a treat !

Must admit theres nothing like fresh brewed Coffee  ! I used to work for a vending company in the UK and i never use starbucks ! Used it once here when a new store opened cost 185 ! Just down the road is a 7/11 same thing cost 75 pesos ! And when you work out the average cost of  a coffee at starbucks and then know that it costs them around 5-10 pesos to make !

Regarding coffee beans luckily where we are there is a south supermarket which sells many kinds of beans ( inc starbucks ) but we buy beans loose by the kilo inc Arabica, flavoured beans also such as hazelnut. Lazeda is a good place to look as suggested by Guy F, i see you are in Ormoc city there is a Robinsons store there our local Robinsons sell coffee beans and there is a SM as well, try this facebook.com/groundcoffeeandbeansormoc/

[RobH]

I buy Barako ground coffee here. Grown in the Philippines, and its easy to find here in Iba. I use an industrial percolator and that does about 1 ½ gallons. I do like coffee and drink gallons of it, probably so much its a danger to health, I still sleep ok though.

[Old55]

What's your BP Rob? 

[RobH]

BP 130/80