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You may know Brian Tenorio as the shoe designer. Well, he’s moved on from that. His newest venture? KKK Coffee, which, just like his shoes, aims to promote the Filipino.
KKK Coffee now has three locations nationwide, and anybody who’s tried it will say, this has to be the opposite of the tedious third wave coffee movement.
In a story written by Tricia Aquino and published on Interaksyon, Tenorio narrates how he was taken aback by a consultant who told him of educating “the Filipinos to drink coffee the right way.”
“Nagpantig ang tainga ko noon. I felt bad because I thought, ‘the right way? Grabe naman, does it mean that everything we’ve been doing in Batangas is wrong,” Tenerio reasons out.
Where third wavers will trumpet the different brewing methods — not to mention the origin of the beans, how they’re roasted, blah blah blah — Tenorio’s KKK remains faithful to the native, albeit simple, Filipino brewing method: pakulo, buhos, pita.
It may sound simplistic but that’s how we’ve always done it, he says. “Filipino coffee is ‘comfort coffee.’ It’s the coffee that you have with your parents. It’s the coffee that you have when you’re not pasosyal. It’s really good, home coffee. It’s like coffee at home, but a little more special,” he was quoted as saying.
Of course, complementing the native brewing methods are the local beans that KKK uses. They come from North Luzon, with brews that highlight local ingredients, too.
There’s the Kapeng Pandan (starts at PHP99), which is coffee poured over pandan leaves; Kapeng Labuyo (starts at PHP99), which is coffee infused with chili; and then there’s the best-selling Kapeng Ginto (starts PHP89), which is just like your 3-in-1 except, well, it’s not instant!
Awesome things are brewing at KKK Coffee. They aim to open six more stores by the end of the year, with the end goal of exporting the brand, instead of the beans.
It may not be fancy coffee that KKK is serving, but one thing is certain: it’s Filipino coffee you’ll be drinking through and through.
KKK Coffee G/F SM Marikina. Mon-Thurs 10am-9pm; Fri & Sat 10am-10pm; Sun 9am-9pm. +63 2 9490212
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