Philippine Coffee finds a Home
Kape Isla serves up the rich flavor of tradition in
mondern luxury
By Trina D. Dela Rama
City living involves choices and compromises: A fast-paced lifestyle in the concrete jungle versus rest and recreation in the calm of natural surroundings. Easy access to services versus a basic do-it-yourself approach. An active social life versus privacy and leisure. High-tech versus high-touch. Instant connection versus quality time. Adaptation to change versus in-depth experiences with old and new.
Urban Living Redefined
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| Kape Isla, designed by Locsin and Associates, features clean lines and hardwood accents |
Where extremes exist, tension and excitement coexist. Serendra, the latest urban real estate project of Ayala Land at The Fort Global City in Taguig, operates with this formula. An urban sanctuary, it proposes a perfect merge of the modern and the natural. Luxury lofts and apartments envelop landscaped open spaces. On-site recreation areas encourage health and wellness in children and adults. Complete amenities warrant ease of lifestyle, while access to nearby health and educational institutions guarantee international-standard services. Modern design meets laid-back attitude in hip yet fashionably casual restaurants, cafés, and boutiques that line the area. Ten minutes away from the Makati central business district, The Fort is fast evolving into a business and commercial hub. Yet, with lush vegetation and the comforts of home, Serendra redefines urban living as balanced and high quality. The spirit of fusion and innovation is alive in Serendra even on weekday evenings. The open spaces fill with the lively chatter of friends walking towards any of the restaurants. From bar to café, delicatessen to tearoom, sweet shop to sushi bar, the choices are as varied as they are delectable. Dainty boutiques dressed as boudoirs coax, while ingenious photography and trinket shops entertain. Serendra reinvents dining and leisure experiences in conjunction with the ultimate lifestyle experience.
Enter Kape Isla.
Not just another cafe
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| The most notable feature of the cafe is the variety of Philippine coffee brands featured |
Kape Isla is a modern take on the ubiquitous café. Designed by the renowned Locsin and Associates architectural firm, its clean lines and hardwood accents belie modern sophistication and quiet intensity. Inside, the café exudes warmth and elegance. Soft strains of music from local artists blend with the aroma of Philippine coffee. Coffee beans in glass jars line the walls. The most notable feature of the café, however, is the variety of Philippine coffee brands featured, their original packaging unified by the distinct Kape Isla seal. Blends and brews from near and far—Batangas, Cavite, Bukidnon, Sultan Kudarat, and the Cordilleras—are present here. In this home of Philippine coffee, the rich flavor of tradition blends perfectly with modern luxuries: quality, variety and specialty, accessibility, original blends, and soon, fascinating fusion food and an arts and culture experience.
Kape Isla is a project of the Philippine Coffee Board and is part of a two-pronged program to promote the local coffee industry, according to Philippine Coffee Board member Bill Luz. “The board decided to focus on two aspects: consumer awareness of Philippine coffee and growing Philippine coffee,” says Luz. “They go hand-in-hand because we’re a big coffee-drinking country but no longer a big coffee-producing country. The country is capable of growing the coffee and, in fact, exporting the coffee.”
Philippine Coffee Advocacy
The name “Kape Isla” was created as a label to designate all locally grown coffee, and in so doing, push consumer awareness. The flagship store in Serendra is merely the first step into the intense and flavorful world of Philippine coffee. Here, one can try the coffee or buy beans from anywhere in the country, from every part of the supply chain of coffee, or from different local brands. As it happens, the Philippine Coffee Board is composed of people who grow, mill, roast, and retail coffee. Members include such familiar brands as Nescafe, Figaro, Starbucks, Mocha Blends, and Bo’s Coffee.
The café’s permanent location underscores the value of a year-round presence for the advocacy. “We are trying to build up a ‘coffee aficionado’ type of culture,” explains Luz. “One thing with coffee, to make the analogy with wine, is you can blend coffee from different places. You can have mixes of the 4 kinds of coffees—single-origin (all the beans from a single place or estate or similar kind of bean) or blended. There is a flavor for everybody. This is something we can further develop among the consumers. Through a premiere location, we are able to feature Philippine coffee as a quality item. We’d like to go and compete in this particular segment of the market; we feel that people will get accustomed to the idea that something homegrown will work.”
As a non-stock, non-profit corporation, the venture is cooperative in every way. “The effort to put this together is a product of the contribution and collaboration of the coffee companies,” shares Luz. “Products are consigned to Kape Isla and the featured coffee is rotated every two weeks. This is actually a unique proposition in the café scene—you get all the Philippine coffees at just one place, and you get to try a new kind every few weeks.”
Cafe Offerings
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| Kape Isla’s refreshing Coffee Cookies and Cream is a must-try |
Must-tries at Kape Isla are the cappuccinos and brewed coffees, as well as the delightful lattes sprinkled with either ChocNut or cookies and cream. The proponents of Kape Isla also envision the café as a venue for introducing estate-grown, custom-roast coffee. “These are not beans that are produced in huge quantities, so they’re all limited-stock coffee and not found anywhere else,” explains Marge Barro, Kape Isla manager. “The beans that are in demand are the ones that come in really low quantities. The lower the quantity, the more people want to keep trying them.”
Exciting times are ahead for the café, with an entire menu ready for rollout in May. Barro shares, “The challenge is creating signature food that will match our product and overall theme. We are working to make it as Filipino as possible. Even something as taken for granted as sugar—we want to make sure that it is Philippine sugar, so we serve muscovado. Our fresh milk, we try to source it from Laguna. Every little bit helps.”
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| Members of the Philippine Coffee Board, including Bill Luz (extreme right), during the opening of the café in March |
Apart from the main fare, a menu for kids is also in the works, as is a kids’ book club. Kape Isla sponsors training courses as well, such as Coffee 101, which teaches basic coffee knowledge and café management. Coffee production courses and farming courses (complete with field visits) will also be offered this year. “We’re trying to develop a barista course as well, one that will create knowledgeable baristas, like wine stewards and sommeliers,” discloses Luz. “My philosophy is food is always more enjoyable when you know more about it. But as with anything, when you consume food that you’re used to—like coffee or Filipino food—the tendency is not to ask too many questions. The more you know about how the product is grown, the greater appreciation you have for the value of the product. These are all put together through hands and hard work of people. So it’s good to know what the process is like. And I think the food tastes better!”
A flavor of the country
Luz believes Filipinos should champion local coffee to the world: “I think Philippine coffee is a product we should patronize—by giving it as a gift, taking it abroad. More than just selling coffee, we’re marketing the country. It’s the flavor of the country that you want to bring out to people.” To get a taste and feel of that sensory experience, visit Kape Isla, the new home of Philippine coffee.
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