Coffee vs Tea Consumption in the Philippines
There’s no doubt that the country loves their cup of coffee. But with trends like milk tea luring in crowds of not only the young, but also the old, is tea slowly inching its way into the position of a strong beverage contender? Not quite. “Coffee has become a way of...
Ever had peaberry coffee?
There's a kind of coffee that only a few get to enjoy because of awareness and/or preference. It’s called the peaberry, and every coffee tree produces only a few of it. According to Chit Juan, President of the Philippine Coffee Board, it only comprises about 5-10% of...
Herbal teas of the Philippines
When you say tea, it exclusively refers to the dried leaf and stem of one plant: Camellia sinensis. All the other variants—white, black, and green tea—are based solely on this plant. In the Philippines though, tea has been used as a catch-all to any plant used for hot...
Cookbook Contest
As Filipino cuisine gains ground overseas, not many Filipinos seem to realize that local gastronomy is spreading beyond the efforts of celebrity chefs and trending restaurants. In the last few years, Filipino cookbooks have been gaining momentum quietly. They have...
Delicious ways with banana ketchup
Banana ketchup is a condiment that is present in many Filipino pantries. The flavor profile of the sauce, sweetish with a hint of spice and just a tad acidic, highly appeals to locals, sometimes even more than its tomato counterpart. This further proves just how much...
Cooking with bihon
Bihon is one of the most popular types of noodles in the Philippines. Introduced by the Chinese, bihon stems from “bi,” which means rice, alluding to this type of noodle’s main ingredient. The noodle sticks are made of only rice flour and water that are formed into...
Noodle Variety
Pancit is a general term to describe a wide variety of noodle dishes from the Philippines, and in this noodle-crazy country, nobody loves pancit more than transportation and logistics professional Marvin Gaerlan. This family man and rom-com fan has made it his mission...
Deconstructing the Filipino pancit
Pancit came from the word pian-sit, which means “fast food” or a dish that can be prepared in no time. It started as a poor man’s fare, but over time has become not just a party favorite, but everyday fare for a handful of reasons—it’s easy to cook in big batches,...
Lillian and San Nicolas
Nothing is more synonymous with Atching Lillian than the traditional and highly-storied San Nicolas cookies. Like many of our traditional desserts, San Nicolas cookies were born from a surplus of egg yolks in the 1600s when churches were being built and one of the...
Generations-Old Filipino Bakeries
Neighborhood panaderias are part of the childhood of many Filipinos. It is perhaps our first introduction to pan de sal, among the many other iterations of local bread. And growing up, even until now, the goods found on the shelves of these bakeries have been the...
Biskwit 101
Biskwit is the Filipino term encompassing traditional biscuits, cookies, and crackers that have been part of the local culinary culture for centuries. Many of these were introduced by the Spaniards, later adapted to cater to Filipino tastes, ingredients, and...