Coffee Shop Owners Share Their Tips On How To Design Your Own Home Café
From minimalist to boho, you can create a coffee nook of your preferred style at home
If you’re a coffee lover, chances are you’ve unleashed your inner DIYer during the lockdowns, and learned to make your own perfect cuppa. But let’s be honest, even if you’ve already nailed your latte art, nothing beats being in a coffee shop, drinking in the relaxing interiors, and taking your sweet time sipping your drink.
And besides, a snap of your latte isn’t complete without nice interiors in the background, right? If you’ve always wanted your own small coffee haven at home, then read up.
We rounded up some of Metro Manila’s best coffee shops, and asked the owners for tips on how best you can design and create your own home café.
Create Your Café Experience At Home
Create Your Café Experience At Home
Brewed Specialty Coffee
A coffee shop is the perfect place to relax, read a book, and watch the world go by. At Brewed Specialty Coffee in Pasig City, you can do exactly that amidst a tropical-inspired ambience. According to the owners, husband and wife Raif and Pennie Sto. Domingo, Brewed’s design was inspired by their frequent travels to Bali, specifically the coffee shops there. They were so inspired that they even designed their own house the same way. “You could say the café is an extension of our home. We wanted to customers to feel the same way as we do -- to sip our coffee and feel right at home,” Raif shares.
Photo Credit: @brewedspecialtycoffee
Brewed Specialty Coffee
Cinch The Tropical-Inspired Look: If you want to give your coffee nook a beach or Bali vibe, take a cue from Brewed. Raif says: “you can pick and play with colors like black, white and gray, and then mix with wooden elements. We love rattan items as those instantly gives a space a beach feel.” For accessories, use accents like rattan pendant lights, a buri mat, beach throw blankets, and colorful pillows. Be careful not to overdo it though. “Remember to balance everything,” Raif points out.
Photo Credit: @brewedspecialtycoffee
Brewed Specialty Coffee
For accessories, use accents like rattan pendant lights, a buri mat, beach throw blankets, and colorful pillows. Be careful not to overdo it though. “Remember to balance everything,” Raif points out.
Photo Credit: @brewedspecialtycoffee
Brewed Specialty Coffee
The last step is to personalize your space to make it feel like your own. Add a few interesting details like a vinyl player, vinyl records, books, and plants. Coffee brewing tools make great accents too, such as French press, coffee grinder and pour-over dippers. Plus points if you source furnishings and fittings from local makers, just like Raif and Pennie. “Since this was a pandemic business, we wanted to make sure that we buy from local businesses first,” Raif adds. Brewed Specialty Coffee, 2nd floor, Red Dot Building, C. Raymundo Ave., Pasig Follow them on IG: @brewedspecialtycoffee
Photo Credit: @brewedspecialtycoffee
Grateful Café
It’s hard not to feel grateful once you enter and experience this café. Every corner is Instagram-worthy, and even if it’s a combination of different designs, it still manages to look harmonious and homey.
Photo Credit: @begratefulcafe
Grateful Café
Roma Fondevilla, Operations Manager and one of the owners, explains Grateful Café’s theme: “Our interior was inspired by our family travels in South America and North Africa, particularly Mexico and Morocco... We married rich-hued colors and textures, using locally-sourced natural materials such as abaca, rattan, buri palm, among others.”
Photo Credit: @begratefulcafe
Grateful Café
Meanwhile, knickknacks festooned around the café give it a boho-chic feel. Weaving crafts, ethnic textiles, native mats, hats, and bags adorn the 30 sqm. café, yet it doesn’t come across as cluttered or busy. If anything, it looks like your cool friend’s place. This makes sense as Roma and her siblings decorated the café, filling it with trinkets and memorabilia from their travels.
Photo Credit: @begratefulcafe
Grateful Café
Create your boho-chic meets Latin American home cafe: Think you can pull off Grateful Café’s look in your own home? Start by looking at your own personal collection. Do you collect books or toys? Clothes or bags? Combine those with local handicrafts and furniture made from natural materials. Intertwine contrasting textures and intricate patterns. Throw in some vintage or ethnic decor and ornamental plants like cacti and succulents. Sometime in the middle of decorating, you’d know when it’s already done. Don’t feel pressured, and have fun. Roma adds, “start simple. Make it personal. And let your creativity flow.” Don’t forget to buy local too, as much as you can. Grateful Café scoured social media to look for Filipino-made accents and furniture, and those felt right at home in their café. Grateful Café, #27 Apo St., Mandaluyong Follow them on IG: @begratefulcafe
Photo Credit: @begratefulcafe
Kapetolyo by SGD Coffee
Next one on our list is perfect for those who have a small garden or patio at home, and prefer a “bringing the outdoors in” kind of look. Located near Manila City Hall, Kapetolyo by SGD Coffee’s large glass windows open up to the iconic Kartilya ng Katipunan monument, a fountain in front of it, and trees festooned with capiz lanterns.
Photo Credit: @kapetolyobysgd
Kapetolyo by SGD Coffee
To complement the relaxing outdoor ambience, they deliberately designed the interior to be minimalist. “Both the idea for and the design of the shop was the Manila Mayor’s (Isko Moreno). It’s industrial, exposed beams, and all glass panels. The greenery outside softens the industrial look.” says Margaret Watanabe, one half of the couple behind SGD Coffee.
Photo Credit: @kapetolyobysgd
Kapetolyo by SGD Coffee
When SGD Coffee won the City of Manila’s bid for a coffee shop supplier, the structure had already been completed, including the floor tiles. “The floors were already busy in terms of the Machuca tiles and some black granita effect. Our team decided to have simple wooden tables, a mixture of upcycled chairs and simple black ones—very functional. We didn’t want to have too much going on.”
Photo Credit: @kapetolyobysgd
Kapetolyo by SGD Coffee
In contrast with the black color scheme of the shop, they chose white as the color of the coffee bar. “Even the Sanremo Opera espresso machine is white. It gives a modern feel to the whole shop,” Margaret adds.
Photo Credit: @kapetolyobysgd
Kapetolyo by SGD Coffee
Let the outdoors in with minimalist details If you have a spot in your house that opens to a nice outdoor space like a garden, or a balcony if you live in a condo, utilize that space and apply a minimalist approach. Just like Kapetolyo, follow the principle “form follows function.” Work with what you have, and let the space speak for itself.
Photo Credit: @kapetolyobysgd
Kapetolyo by SGD Coffee
In terms or furnishing, “it doesn’t have to be expensive. Look at what’s on hand. You can upcycle old tables or used wood,” Margaret says. Near your table and chair, find a shelf or a table to display your coffee paraphernalia. To start off, all you need are coffee beans and a French press. If you must invest in a coffee tool, Margaret recommends a good coffee grinder that has a flat burr. You may have the most awesome view and the nicest furniture, but without fresh and quality coffee beans, your home café won’t be a happy one. That’s why Margaret recommends buying whole beans, and grinding enough for a day’s use. “This way you keep the flavors intact,” Margaret emphasizes. Lastly, make the conscious choice to buy local beans, so you can help our local farmers. This is what SGD Coffee and the Coffee Heritage Project are advocating. Kapetolyo by SGD Coffee, Kartilya ng Katipunan Park, Cecilia Munoz Palma Drive, Ermita, Manila Follow them on IG: @kapetolyobysgd
Photo Credit: @kapetolyobysgd
Whether tropical-inspired, industrial, or boho-chic, you can learn from the styles of your favorite coffee haunts. And if you take coffee seriously as much as they do, then launching your home café project is well worth your time, budget, and energy. Besides, wouldn’t it be great to have a relaxing spot in your own house, where you can either have your coffee or me time, or have guests over?
