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Easter Coffee Club

Jeeves De Veyra

Chances are, you&#x27;ve eaten at a chef-driven restaurant. But what about a chef-driven café? That’s what <a href="https://www.instagram.com/eastercoffeeclub/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Easter Coffee Club</a> hatched by husband-and-wife team Chef Edward and Trixie Bugia.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17472122747341.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Photo: Easter Coffee Club </div>It’s named as such because they opened on an Easter Sunday. It’s also a nod to the “eastern” side of the Metro Manila suburbs where the coffee club is located. Located on the Cogeo side of Antipolo, the quirky and cool café with its quirky and cool menu really reflects the personality of the Bugias.It’s cute how the couple ended up owning a coffee shop.Right before they were married, they found out they had a common dream—to one day own a coffee shop… even when, at that time, they didn’t know anything about coffee except that they both liked drinking it.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1747212353654Ed and Trixie.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>The café&#x27;s quiet power duo, Ed and Trixie Bugia | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>Chef Ed wasn’t the type of person to go in to something half-brewed. Thus, he went looking for mentors and peers to go learn everything and anything about coffee.Much like most of us who found fun things to do to save our sanity during the COVID lockdowns, The café overlord-to-be found himself brewing coffee, cold brew and espresso, to sell around condominium complex.Chef Ed is as geeky with coffee as he is with his patties at Flipside Burgers. There’s a kid-like excitement as he explained his coffee program developed alongside coffee veterans, Andi Trinidad and David Disuanco.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1747212411676ANDI TRINIDAD Bews Coffee.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Veteran barista Andi Trinidad in her element | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>He breaks it down into the three components of coffee: Water, coffee beans, and milk.A cup of coffee is mostly water. A special filtration system feeds water into his espresso machines, kettles for manual brews, and even the ice maker.  The water tastes clean, without any stray taste that can affect the delicate notes of his coffee. The café’s ice looks clear and melts a lot slower, much like the ones used in the bougiest bars.Ed put in a lot of work selecting his coffee.For espresso, Easter uses a custom blend of two arabicas. One that’s the expected nut and chocolate, and an anaerobic processed bean that adds a little fruit and funk to the brew.  They did say that they’ll be changing this up every so often, giving espresso and latte lovers reasons to come back.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1747212477933COFFEE - Dan Pourover 2.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Precision in every pour | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>The manual brews are THE reason for coffee aficionados to visit the coffee club. The coffee beans for the pourovers are from Dubai based roaster<a href="https://archerscoffee.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorVnn7XnTXdINzRVm6AI9ShKpx8LRG9UD-d0zRHwZF4TsZPAQGg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Archer’s Coffee</a>. Archers roasts some of the most prized coffee beans in the world and is guaranteed to be in the wishlists of many specialty coffee nerds. Starting at 190 pesos, these cups of coffee are just exquisite with florals, fruits, and funk depending on the beans chosen for the brew.The last component is Ed’s choice of pasteurized milk. These are even sweeter than the common UHT full cream milk readily available everywhere. This is so sweet that the café even has single shots of these listed as a menu item. Poured in as a milk drink, it’s balanced enough to tame the espresso.  I’d love to see a duo on the coffee menu. A single shot of pure espresso alongside a small milk drink, maybe a cortado for folks to try both coffee treatments on one tray.I’d say there was one more component, and that is the team of Dan and Drey pulling the shots or brewing coffee. While Ed is a coffee geek in his own right, he’s still a chef first and a coffee person second.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1747212840136NON COFFEE.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Beyond coffee: drinks for every kind of mood | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>For those who don’t drink coffee, the café has sodas and ceremonial-grade matcha. The matcha is on the sweeter side but with just a hint of earthy umami, that’s friendly enough for most new and seasoned matcha drinkers.For the food, Chef Ed describes the menu as cool konbini food. “What if convenience.&quot;<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17472130130173.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>What if konbini food got the chef treatment? This. | Photo: Easter Coffee Club</div>This is, and isn’t, ramen. What I think they did was to get instant noodles from a pack and threw away the seasoning packs. Instead, Chef Ed made a tare from scratch and used that to make a rich shoyu soup complete with fatty slices of pork belly. It seems like a Hokkaido style soup with a big dollop of butter and corn. If they did use instant noodles, it’s probably an expensive pack as the noodles were still chewy even when left for some time.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1747213049921SANDO - Ham and Cheese.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>A sando classic, done the Easter Cafe way | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>Sandos are another staple of konbini food. There’s a generous bulge in the middle with the filling. These come in ham and cheese and potato salad. With a side of shaved paper thin sweet potato chips (that really could be sold as snack packs).<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1747213132996RICE - Tapsilog and chicken shwarma.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Chef Ed&#x27;s remix: Tapsilog and Chicken Shawarma | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>Coffee is THE star in this café, so Chef Ed shuns the use of vinegar instead using pickled onions for both the chicken shawarma plate and his silogs that added brightness to avoid souring up the aroma of coffee.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1747213204816STRAWBERY - sourdough ricotta and matcha.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Matcha and strawberry, leveled up with ricotta and sourdough | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>For a sweet ending, try this combination of a matcha strawberry with a strawberry ricotta sourdough. The strawberries used here are rescue strawberries from Baguio that would otherwise be thrown away which the kitchen team cooks and turns into their in-house jams and syrups.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1747213326017DESSERT - Taiwanese Steamed Milk.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Taiwanese steamed milk | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>In another ode to how good the milk is in the café, these little milk jugs contain chilled barely there steamed milk on top of caramel, chocolate, or strawberry.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1747213316636DESSERT - SUman Balls.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Suman Balls | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>Who goes to Antipolo and doesn’t eat suman and kasoy? The Suman Balls are the must try dessert that is Antipolo on a plate with suman, cashew, with cashew and mango sauce. Perfect with yet another cup or two of coffee.This is a perfect neighborhood coffee shop for those who live in the area. The coffee and food are worth the short detour for weekend riders on their way up to Boso-Boso and beyond, or a refuel point on the way back home.But again, the coffee is the star in this cafe. Whether it’s the espresso or the manual brews, it’s worth the hop to the east to have taste of what the Bugias are brewing up at Easter Coffee Club.<div><a href="https://www.instagram.com/eastercoffeeclub/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Easter Coffee Club</a> can be found at D’Olive at Eastland Heights, Forest Hills Ave., Antipolo City, Rizal and is open 9am to 8pm (Sun-Thu) and 9am to 9pm (Fri-Sat). Please visit <a href="https://www.instagram.com/eastercoffeeclub/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@eastercoffeeclub</a> for more information and their complete menu.</div><div>                  </div>

Chances are, we’ve eaten at a chef-driven restaurant. But what about a chef-driven café? That’s what Easter Coffee Club hatched by husband-and-wife team Chef Edward and Trixie Bugia.

Chances are, we’ve eaten at a chef-driven restaurant. But what about a chef-driven café? That’s what Easter Coffee Club hatched by husband-and-wife team Chef Edward and Trixie Bugia.

Hidden Gem: This Cool New Chef-Driven Café Tucked Away In Antipolo

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Hidden Gem: This Cool New Chef-Driven Café Tucked Away In Antipolo

Jeeves De Veyra

Published May 14, 2025 05:07 PM PHT

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Updated May 16, 2025 01:23 AM PHT

Read More:

easter coffee club

chef ed bugia

hidden gem antipolo

best matcha drinks philippines

ceremonial grade matcha cafe

konbini inspired food

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