COFFEE CONNOISSEURS: The Art of Coffee

By: Pia Dorothy V. Tia

MIAGAO, Iloilo — The rigor of academic excellence is compounded by nights of stress and marks a necessity to function in everyday life. May it be a stick of instant coffee, freshly pumped espresso, or artisan coffee beans from the mountains of Igbaras — coffee has become a point of interaction for the student body.

The pulse of caffeine is seen in the different sectors of student life: from campus, to dormitory, to coffee shops littered around Miagao — the idea of coffee being more than just a drink stems from the passions and hobbies of our baristas and coffee shop owners, as well as the interactions by which coffee shapes student life.

One Shot? Two Shots?

COFFEE SHAPING INTERACTIONS: A group of friends share a conversation with a cup of coffee and tea (Photo by : Pia Dorothy Tia)

As morning comes, a multitude of students stir from slumber, coalescing with the clink-clink of spoon against cup as the hundreds make their definition of a ‘perfect cup of coffee.’ These mornings come with the quick start of a fresh roast in what is a starter to an otherwise, hectic day, while afternoons are for respites in between the busy work schedules and overwhelming academic requirements. Caffeine has become sacrosanct in our spaces — if so, how exactly does coffee shape our interactions?

For Kamila Quisha Montalban, mornings feel “incomplete without coffee.”

“I like my coffee not too sweet, but also not too strong. Mga 3-in-1 timplahan,” Montalban shares.

“I first started drinking coffee in elementary school, because I saw my mom was drinking coffee. I wanted to try it even if she told me not to.”

Montalban, a junior in the BA — Sociology program, also undertaking a double major degree for Psychology, says that her academic requirements catch up to her in overwhelming rushes. She finds that coffee best helps her when she’s ‘locking-in’ (focused) on academics.

Moreover, her conversations with people are best paired with coffee, a complement to the rich conversations she has with her community, “it becomes a prompt to catch up with people.”

Similarly, Jaztine Claire Marcial, a junior in the BA — Political Science program, says she was a victim of ‘econsumerism’ (a compound word that denotes consumerism channeled through social media platforms) on TikTok during the pandemic, hence why she tried drinking coffee.

“A day without coffee feels so tiring and long without it. I am not sure if caffeine has an impact on me because I always still fall asleep despite drinking tons of it, it’s just become part of the routine now,” Marcial narrates.

She also shares that coffee shops are one of the ‘most accessible places to hang out in’ in her stay in the university — this is why she believes that catching up with friends, meetings with group mates, or her organizations, are always best shared with coffee.

Similarly, for Hans Benedicte Palacios, coffee has become an inextricable part of his life, as this has been a beverage staple for him since he was 13 years old.

“I like my coffee strong, black, and sugar-free. I started drinking it because I saw many adults drinking it, too — and I thought it would also make me look like an adult.”

Palacios, a sophomore in the BA — Political Science program, feels the bulk of his responsibilities through his various leadership roles such as UPV Discursus (the course organization for the political science program) and his incoming role as the College of Arts and Sciences Student Council (CASSC) Chairperson.

“In so many ways that I drink it, not only when I need or want it anytime, anywhere — it does make me function. It’s already like water to me, although they say it’s bad, I drink it like water. If I can’t get a drink, basta coffee,” Palacios emphasizes.

For him, most of his conversations start with drinking coffee, “even back in high school, most of the ‘starts’ of my extracurricular activities were from a cup of coffee shared by my mentor and I. Even now in college, all projects start with coffee. All my academic requirements start and end from and with coffee.”

From Bean to Cup

Each cup of coffee is comprised of different ingredients dependent on the blend. Your shot of espresso contains a specific ratio of water to steeped coffee beans, lattes contain part milk and coffee, and for sweet-tooths, a cup of caramel macchiato contains a ratio of espresso, water, milk, condensed milk, and syrupy brown caramel.

These different ingredients reflect the various reasons why coffee makers invest their craft into making the perfect coffee cup.

Beans and Bubbles, a popular haunt by University of the Philippines Visayas students, is a quaint coffee shop located at Brgy. Mat-y in Miag-ao. In 2024, the shop was recognized by the local government unit as a tourist spot in the municipality. It can be observed that the coffee shop has reached great heights in upping the standards of specialty coffee in Miagao, but this progress came from humble beginnings, too — just as all good things do.

For Tracy Boston-Nacanaynay, Beans and Bubbles owner, running a coffee shop requires “100% effort.”

“Gina hatag ko gid ang mental, physical, and emotional sacrifices — kaya ko gid ang 17 hour shift,” she shares.

Boston-Nacanaynay’s coffee routine starts at 2am, where the bulk of her work is concentrated. She begins by mixing the dough of her home-made pastries, prepping ingredients for the menu in her meals, all while enjoying a cup of Americano (a shot of espresso with water).

When asked, she shares that her affinity for coffee started when she worked as an Overseas-Filipino-Worker (OFW), searching for an avenue for business and money, she conceptualized Beans and Bubbles’ tagline: coffee while you wait for your laundry.

This cafe’s tagline panders to the owner’s inclination towards conversations with her customers.

“Ang business kay [hotspot] for conversations. I like that Beans is one of the places people ‘go-to’,” Boston-Nacanaynay shares, “Ang food [offered] may research and development gid. It’s challenging but I like challenges. Pero nanamian gid ko sang day-to- day interactions and dynamics of everything.”

For her, ‘everything’ pertains to the quiet moments in-between the hubbub of a busy day in a cafe. Conversations, chismis sessions with regulars, and playing with the coffee shop pets is part-and-parcel of the bliss that complements a good cup of hot coffee.

Beans and Bubbles’ full-time barista, Aljean Tagudando, shares her personal art of making coffee.

“A perfect espresso is 16 grams of coffee grounds, 30 seconds extraction time, which yields 30ml,”

LATTE ART: Tagudando’s practice of art through her coffee cups. (Photo credit by: Aljean Tagudando)

Tagudando first began her training in 2023 and has been a part of the cafe for over two years.

“Wala pa ko idea before sang coffee shop,” she shares, “I was endorsed by one of the baristas here then I applied to the cafe after.”

For her, since becoming a barista, coffee has become a part of her daily life, “kung sakon, daw indi na ko mabuhi kung wala na ko kape,”

She especially finds fulfillment when making her coffee and it is being enjoyed by the people she serves it to,“Sa coffee, indi lang dapat amo na imo ubra, sa akon, gatuon pa lang ko sang coffee. Ga enjoy gid ko kay kilanglan sang customer. Kung makatimpla ko sang namit nga kape, happy gid ko nga [nakatilaw] sila sang namit nga kape.”

The Box Coffee, a new coffee shop located at Box 1 near the university grounds, was founded by RB Nufable. This cafe was the brainchild of the founder, whose passions stem from making coffee at home and was then propelled by the enjoyment of his friends.

“Honestly, I never planned to put up a coffee shop. I was simply enjoying my daily cup at home — coffee has always been a part of my routine.”

FROM BEAN TO CUP: The Box Coffee baristas pouring coffee in action. (Photo credit by: The Box Coffee)

Nufable shares how coffee supplements the focus and detail-oriented nature of being a Certified Public Accountant.

“Eventually, some friends encouraged me to share my coffee with others. They believed more people should experience the quality and story behind each cup. That’s when the idea grew — not just to serve coffee, but to share the journey of specialty coffee and the farmers behind it. I’m passionate about telling their story — -how their dedication to quality and sustainable practices can uplift their communities and transform lives,” Nufable shares.

Nufable enjoys it most when coffee becomes a driver of story-telling, when he feels that the output of ‘calibrating each bean to get the perfect extraction, highlighting its unique flavors’ brings about an opener for ‘chika-chika sessions or sharing through social media posts.’

RAW COFFEE PLANT: The Box’s venture to the Pakiburak Coffee Harvest Festival, in hopes to understand the livelihood that spurs a great cup of coffee. (Photo credit by: The Box Coffee)

He opens that none of his learnings are his and his alone, but supplemented by his community, “I keep learning through mentorship and training, especially sa mga upod namon sa Iloilo Specialty Coffee Community — Namian guid ko sa amon community kay ga share kami ideas and brewing styles and ga organize friendly brewing competition. We believe in community over competition.”

Nufable shares his last few sentiments about coffee during the interview, an encompassing review of all the good things that coffee has made him realize.

“Our beans come from diverse origins, and gina-try guid namon nga ma halongan ang ila beans. I know how much effort the farmers put into processing them — that’s why on our end; we do our part by making sure we extract them the best way possible. I am inspired by the quality and integrity behind every bean we serve, especially knowing it comes from farmers who follow sustainable practices.”

The Perfect Cup

To many of these students, coffee has become the value of their lives–encompassing the trajectory of most of their college journey. Especially in such an academically rigorous university, it is the window to the respite of community.

To Michael Vego, junior in the BS — Food Technology program, coffee has become vital when ‘cramming.’

“Besides the fact that it does energize me, the psychological effect of coffee provides me momentum for me to conduct my work,” Vego shares.

The aspiring food technologist is one of the students who frequent Bean’s and Bubbles, especially during ‘hell week’ (a week that denotes an intense period of academic stress due to workload), here he finds ‘comfort’ in the drink.

Victoria Jimenea, a third-year student under the BA — History program, undertaking a double degree in Sociology, shares a holistic view of coffee.

“Coffee has become common ground. The subtle interactions you have with people on a daily basis is a form of being included in a community — because that’s crucial. The impact of a community to the individuality of a person, and the environment there, too,” she explains.

Insofar as coffee has a significant hold on the hands that harvest it, the hands that brew it, the hands that serve it, and the hands that bring the cup to lips — it has become more than just a drink, but an appetizer to connection.

From advocacy, to the simple machination of looking for a livelihood, to conversation starters, a coffee cup is made of more than just the beans and the right roast.

While the idea of ‘perfection’ is subjective to the tastebuds of consumers, the perfect coffee cup can be described as the passion and contentment by which our coffee makers make their coffee. As the popular saying goes, ‘nobody is perfect’ but good coffee can make anyone’s day close to it.

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