Third Wave coffee shops in Manila

New coffee shops offering specialty coffee have been popping-up in various places in Manila.

Coffee lovers are becoming more sophisticated and are certainly embracing the  "Third Wave Coffee" trend in Manila.

Third Wave Coffee refers to the current movement to produce high-quality coffee and consider it artisinal similar to wine. This involves improvements on the coffee value-chain or what coffee experts refer to as "From Farm to Cup".  

Third Wave Coffee aims to promote the culinary appreciation of coffee, similar to how wine is appreciated by wine lovers. It involves sourcing the high quality coffee beans and making specialty and single-origin coffee, having lighter roast options and including latte art in the coffee experience of coffee lovers.

The term "Third Wave Coffee" was first used by Trish Rothgeb(of Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters in the United States) who first wrote about it in a November 2002 article in The Flamekeeper, the newsletter of the Roaster's  Guild.

With the rise of Third Wave Coffee, it is now common to see coffee shops in neighborhoods in Manila offering artisinal type coffee. Plus, most of these coffee shops are being run by hands-on entrepreneurs who are passionate about coffee.

Some of the Third Wave Coffee Shops in Manila that I have tried are:

1) Yardstick

Yardstick is a cafe located on Esteban Street in Legazpi Village, Makati City. Since it is in the CBD(Central Business District) area, most of their loyal customers are working professionals who walk to the cafe for a quick caffeine fix or  for out-of-the-office meetings.

The cafe has a casual and colourful vibe and the set-up  does not include  typical counters since the cashier is just a table set-up that is located near the food station.

Open type cafe set-up filled with tables that serve as stations
for cashier and food preparation

Long tables ideal for out-of-the-office meetings 

Yardstick also offers coffee workshops and courses.

List of workshops and prices in PHP

Yardstick also supplies some restaurants with coffee beans. They also sell coffee equipments that come from Italy.

2) Magnum Opus

Magnum Opus is a small neighborhood cafe on Aguirre Street in BF homes, Paranaque. I learned about the place from one of the baristas from a third wave coffee shop.

It took time before I was able to find it since the cafe is located on the 2nd floor of a small building. Good thing I had checked on Google maps  during my search so I was able to find it.

The cafe is run by young entrepreneurs who love coffee. I tried the El Salvador coffee which was  priced at PHP150 per cup. It was good and combined the tastes of orange peel, tea and almonds.

El Salvador pour over coffee 

3) Kuppa 

Kuppa is a third wave cafe located at BGC(Bonifacio Global City) which I visited recently.  It is located behind the HSBC building at BGC. It is a cafe that was suggested by a coffee Q-grader so I tried it.

The cafe offers single-origin coffee and a wide variety of desserts and food choices.

I tried their brew of the day called "Red Cherry Sidamo" which orginated from Ethiopia.  It was smooth and good. It tasted fruity and just had the right level of acidity.

The vibe at Kuppa is cool and relaxing. The place is a coffee shop that transforms into a bar at night since they also offer cocktails. For people who are not coffee drinkers it is also a good place since they also offer a variety of tea choices.

Kuppa is a cool cafe. They offer a variety of dishes, the staff are friendly, the service is quick and good.  Plus, they also offer products such as French press, coffee filter, etc.

Products for coffee preparation are sold at the cafe

4) The Curator

The Curator Coffee and Cocktails is located inside Cyrano wine bar on Carlos Palanca Street in Legazpi Village, Makati. It is a secret cafe and bar.

Pour over coffee prepared by the barista

Coffee is filtered and calibration is done to prepare a
consistent and high quality cup of artisinal coffee

Panama  coffee 

Coffee equipment for espresso coffee preparations

During day time the place is a  third wave coffee shop and from 6PM onwards it transforms into dimly lit cool cocktail bar that serves curated drinks.

They have expert baristas who join international barista competitions and are very knowledgeable about coffee.

I have tried their Ethiopia and Panama coffee variants. Both are nice, smooth and have fruity notes.

Aside from their hot coffee selections, you might want to try their iced single origin coffee too.

5) EDSA Beverage Design Studio

Another Third Wave Coffee purveyor is EDSA Beverage Design Studio located on EDSA(before Saisaki restaurant).

I tried their Panama blend brew of the day which the barista recommended. It was good and had nice fruity notes.

The place is quite big and has a lot of tables and a comfy couch.

 EDSA Beverage also has baristas who join barista competitions which are conducted

 locally and abroad. They also make latte art.

 They also sell coffee pour over products from Japan and they conduct coffee classes too.

The place is nice, cozy, quiet, artsy and is a nice place for meetings.

With the growing demand for good quality coffee, it is certain that more neighborhood coffee shops serving specialty coffee will continue to open in the coming months.