Like a lot of coffee-obsessed people, I found myself going down the deep rabbit hole that is coffee during the pandemic. Unable to make my usual pilgrimage to a café to get that much-needed caffeine jolt, I was forced to brew at home . In so doing, I learned to appreciate the world beyond 3-in-1 coffees and chain coffee shops. These days, while I still drink 3-in-1's and the occasional sugary dessert drink, I’ve gone down the deep end and like a true coffee aficionado, will usually take my coffee black, depending on the beans to provide the flavor and the funk.

It was at this time when I was inspecting Manila's cafés for more than the usual milk drinks that Gio Visitacion of The Good Cup Coffee Co. boasted, “If you think Manila’s coffee scene is something, you should come to Cebu.”

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“Yeah, riiiigggghhhht!” I thought to myself, but when I found myself in the Queen City of the South, I gladly took the opportunity to see and sip what he was talking about.

Cebu’s coffee scene rivals that of Manila. While there have been many entrepreneurial cafés that have sprouted around Manila, a notable difference is that prominent Cebuano coffee shops have been built from the ground up in Cebu by self-confessed “Maximalists.

That is, coffee fanatics/geeks/nerds/devotees that place coffee above profit. While lattes, cappuccinos, shakes, and other sugary milk-based cups are still on their drink menu, there is always that section of the menu that dares to put coffee from top growers and roasters around the world for what seems like exorbitant prices. Much care and attention is taken by the resident baristas to make sure discerning coffee lovers (who would gladly pay P300++ for a cup of black coffee) get their money’s worth.

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Most of the owners of these shops know their coffee and their way around their equipment. They sometimes man the bar and they CAN make a mean cup of coffee or pull a great shot of espresso on their own.

This list is far from a complete list of Cebu specialty coffee shops. Though I’d like to think that this is a nice cross-section of what’s brewing around Cebu and the surrounding areas. There’s something unique about these shops whether it’s the coffee they serve, the whole experience they provide, or the shop itself, that each brings something special to the coffee bar.

1. Commonly Uncommon Coffee - The first stop sets the bar pretty high. With an unobtrusive doorway going into the shop in Banilad Town Center, Commonly Uncommon does much to subvert expectations. Inside is a hipster haven for coffee and food. And this shop should really be called Uncommonly Rare with so many highlights that set it apart from other cafes and restaurants. From the pink and black ceramic tasting cups to the custom metal flat drippers with the café’s name stamped on them, to free-flowing sparkling water,  this shop has owner John Park’s touches all over it. IG: @commonly.uncommon.coffeeJeeves De Veyra

1. Commonly Uncommon Coffee - For a coffee geek, this shop has its own collection of bright shiny coffee equipment to drool over. From the Weber Workshop Grinders to the rare Kees Van Der Westen Spirit espresso machine to custom made brewers specced to get the best coffee out of the beans they have stored in the freezer. IG: @commonly.uncommon.coffee  jee

1. Commonly Uncommon Coffee - Commonly Uncommon gets its pour over beans from roasters that John likes. They’ve recently started carrying beans from Korean roaster Momos Coffee that are somewhat darker than the usual medium roast. But when brewed by John and his team, these are surprisingly sweet, full of character, with barely a hint of bitterness. Check out the canned cold brews, the Korean entrées, and John's occasional off-menu experimental coffee drinks. IG: @commonly.uncommon.coffeeJeeves De Veyra

2. Tightrope Coffee - The F. Ramos Area is a busy place full of dormitories, hidden good eats and more importantly, two must-go specialty cafés within walking distance.The first is Tightrope Coffee located at the ground floor of the Velez Medical Arts Building that helps keep the doctors, nurses and medical staff awake with their style of coffee.The café has a wide open layout that’s very minimalist with slick La Marzocco Modbars peeking above the counters hiding the boilers away from  prying eyes. IG: @tightropecoffee Tightrope Coffee

2. Tightrope Coffee - For pour over coffee fans, this coffee shop has beans from Norwegian roaster Tim Wendleboe. These are representative of the Scandinavian style of roasting that are often lighter to bring out the fruity and the floral notes. The coffee is bordering on tea like but still has that pleasant hit of caffeine.For those who want the best of what Tightrope has to offer in one serving, the coffee flight with three different coffees  is highly recommended. Or If you are into espresso, have a duo with both a shot of espresso and a cortado. IG: @tightropecoffee.Tightrope Coffee

3. The Good Cup Coffee Co. - For such a high-profile roaster, The Good Cup Coffee Co. has a surprisingly humble shop compared to the others. It is sort of small with a rudimentary espresso machine and pourover bar. From its logo, to coffee bean benches, to putting their bags of coffee with labels front and center,  this cafe wears its heart on its sleeve. IG: @thegoodcupcoffeecoTightrope Coffee

3. The Good Cup Coffee Co. - What makes The Good Cup Coffee Co. unique is the sheer variety of beans available for pourover and espresso, which is basically the entire catalog of Good Cup Coffee from their affordable Daily Driver house blend, all the way to Panamanian Diego Bermudez Geshas and the Finca De Garces Sweet Arabicas from Bukidnon that recently got the highest score of any Philippine Coffee ever. There’s a cup of coffee for every preference and every budget.That is, the price of a cup of coffee can simply skyrocket depending on the beans used for the coffee. If you want a milk drink made with 2,000 peso / 100 gram Competition Grade coffee, the baristas at Good Cup will oblige. IG: @thegoodcupcoffeeco.Jeeves De Veyra

3. The Good Cup Coffee Co. - For anyone who buys beans, buying at the shop is the best way to get them as you can request the baristas to teach you to brew the beans. That way Gio, his brother Ed, and his team can recommend how to tweak brewing variables and taste the notes your precious bag of beans should be giving out.It pays to be adventurous with coffee in this shop to explore different kinds of coffee. Ask for the special cupping sessions which the coffee shop occasionally holds upstairs where they also hold coffee classes for aspiring baristas.Besides the pourovers, come for the cold black and the cold white (they don't call them cold brews because these are made with the espresso machine), and their coffee and matcha soft serves. IG: @thegoodcupcoffeeco.Jeeves De Veyra

4. Abaca Baking Company - A list of coffee places only found in Cebu won’t be complete without mentioning the Abaca Baking Company. While they have many branches around the city, the branch to go and visit is the one atop Ayala Center Cebu. IG: abacabakingco.Jeeves De Veyra

4. Abaca Baking Company - This is their flagship branch and is the biggest among all the ABC’s. The store is bright, airy and cosmopolitan with a space-age feel with those ring lights above the coffee counter. The best seats in the house are the ones with a view overlooking the busy office buildings of Ayala Center Cebu, though try to go up to the second floor if you ‘re looking for a quiet place to catch up on work. IG: @abacabakingco.Jeeves De Veyra

4. Abaca Baking Company - With their advocacy to support Cebuano businesses, they do get their beans from a Cebuano coffee roaster.  The profile is the dark chocolate coffee ideal for milk drinks and to pair with their in-demand breads, croissants, and other baked goodies. Though Abaca Baking Company is exclusively in Cebu right now, this list might be obsolete soon as there are hints of possible expansion outside the Queen City in the near future.IG: @abacabakingco.Jeeves De Veyra

5. Drip and Draft - Café by day, bierhaus by night – that’s Drip and Draft in a nutshell. Considered as one of the pioneers when it comes to Cebu specialty coffee, this coffee shop is located in a mini-mall right outside the posh Maria Luisa properties.Though relatively young, the shop is one of the specialty coffee pioneers in Cebu brewing single origin beans from around the country. During the pandemic, their bottled cold brew coffee was a hit. Drip and Draft did notice a big shift to home brewing and is one of the few coffee shops that sold equipment like Aeropresses, v60 brewers, and even special edition Moka Pots to cater to baristas in lockdown. IG: @dripanddraft Drip and Draft

5. Drip and Draft - Acknowledged as one of the OGs in Cebu specialty coffee scene, Catherine Kahn Ong of Drip and Draft likes the fact that they have many options now citing several of the cafes in this list. Check out their coffee drinks made with Mt. Apo beans, then if you find yourself still lounging on the couch when the sun goes down, have some of their beers from their selection including brews from partner Bauhinia Brewery Cebu. IG: @dripanddraft.Drip and Draft

6. 21 Kilometers Coffee - Set aside a day to explore the highlands between Cebu City and the Western Side of the island for breathtaking views alongside occasional doses of caffeine.  It does take a bit of effort to get to 21 Kilometers Coffee, so named because the shop is 21 kilometers from the start of the Cebu Transcentral Highway.“Make sure to taste their black coffee”, whispered our coffee guide, which puzzled me because I had the same beans in other cafes. IG: @21kilometerscoffee.Jeeves De Veyra

6. 21 Kilometers Coffee - One sip and I understood why. It tasted so…. clean …with hardly any of the bitter notes I remembered from past brews of the same coffee. The reason was in the mountain water used by owner Jumbo Talaogon, himself a technician for a high-end Singaporean coffee company who moved back to Cebu to brew coffee at his little slice of heaven.Order coffee or their sikwate, native hot chocolate, bring it outside to let mountain air cool them off to the proper temperature, then move to your next stop. IG: @21kilometerscoffee.Jeeves De Veyra

7. Charlie's Cup - Further east is Charlie’s Cup, a great destination for coffee lovers with furbabies. This a large outdoor area that’s guaranteed to have visitors stop every couple of steps just to snap a picture or selfie for the ‘gram. With balconies and walkways to jut out of the mountainside, a steaming cup of any of their brews is a nice way to warm up and take in the breathtaking vistas.This breathtaking coffee shop is owned by dog lovers. In fact, Charlie is the owner’s corgi whose picture is painted all around the property. This amazing place really grew during the latter stages of the pandemic when outdoor and al fresco spaces were in demand by city dwellers who just wanted to get away from the lockdowns.IG: @charliescup.Jeeves De Veyra

7. Charlie's Cup - Order a steaming hot cup near the entrance, get a milk tea for the kids, then just bring it around the property. With the cool mountain air and story-able moments around every corner, it was just too easy to forget the time until, before I knew it, it was dark and we were on our way back down to the city. IG: @charliescup.Jeeves De Veyra

8. 5g Coffee House - It was back in the city for the last two stops.There’s gold behind this coffee shop. That is, the Guinto family that brews and bakes what makes this garage-based café special. The lead coffee person here is Richard Guinto who learned how to make specialty pastry as a way of “escaping” college. The gamble seems to have paid off as Richard’s croissants have become one of the most sought after delivery must-eats in the city. Even if this café is located off the beaten path, people do come and line up for coffee and Richard’s croissants and pain de chocolat, best eaten steaming hot, fresh from the oven. For curious Manila-based croissant lovers, they plan to have regular croissant drops in Ayala Alabang very soon. IG: @5gcoffeehouse. Jeeves De Veyra

8. 5g Coffee House - The shop does have a lone espresso machine so it may take some time to get a cup. Though they also have pourovers sourced from the next and last coffee shop on this list. IG: @5gcoffeehouse.Jeeves De Veyra

9. Stream Coffee & Current Coffee Roasters - This literal hole-in-a-wall has within its small space some of the best coffees in Cebu. On one hand, there are beans roasted Current Coffee which has a nicely curated selection of beans. Then there’s its alter ego, Stream Coffee. For those who’ve really been exploring the world of good coffee, chances are you’ve heard of these guys as they’re one of the go-to local sources for such premium coffee roasters such as Archers and Manhattan that go for thousands of pesos per 250gram bag. IG: streamcoffeeph and @currentcoffeeroastersStream Coffee

9. Stream Coffee & Current Coffee Roasters - Perhaps the best indication of Cebu coffee culture is what we stumbled into when we walked into Current Coffee. As we opened the door, we interrupted a bunch of 20-somethings in the middle of a cupping session brewing led by owner Carlos Tito. After we looked around the shop and tasted some of the coffees, I asked the 20-somethings if it was their first time to attend a cupping session.“Oh no, we’re here almost every week,” was their reply. And shortly after that, they walk out of the shop with several bags of these beans. IG: @streamcoffeeph and @currentcoffeeroasters.Jeeves De Veyra

9. Stream Coffee & Current Coffee Roasters - Carlos is a true master of the art of brewdol. But behind all this is his passion for different coffees. The coffee selection here is whatever he chooses to share on a particular day. For instance, when we visited, I was lucky to partake of coffee brewed from the few remaining grams of a very rare (and very expensive) Panamanian Iris Estates Enigma Gesha Iris Estates from Carlos’ stash. It was on a whole different level with its delicate fruit and coffee. “We want our espressos to be as funky as our pourovers.,” said Carlos, eho wants to use these beans for fast moving coffees some time in the future. No mean feat as these beans aren’t cheap! IG: @streamcoffeeph and @currentcoffeeroasters.Jeeves De Veyra

9. Stream Coffee & Current Coffee Roasters - I repeat, these beans are NOT cheap and education is a big part in letting fellow weird coffee people sip and savor flavor notes way beyond nuts and chocolate, and perhaps, have them buy the beans so Carlos can buy more of these funky coffees to enjoy himself, share with fellow specialty coffeeholics, and let the brewdol cycle continue. IG: @streamcoffeeph and @currentcoffeeroasters.Jeeves De Veyra

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Lead photos: Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Ed's note: Cebu has a vibrant coffee community, but for purposes of this article, we decided to put the spotlight on standalone cafés that can only be found in Cebu, with no branches in other parts of the country.