travel cafe philippines

travel cafe philippines (tcf) is located at the recently opened greenbelt5. i had the opportunity of attending its launching last december. hubby said tcf is the department of tourism's way of marketing the philippines as a "must-see" destination through non-traditional means. tcf already has a number of branches abroad including one in japan which has been highly popular and successful. the value proposition of tcf is to provide a means for customers to know more about the philippines while having the chance to enjoy filipino specialty coffee and dessert.

the 'piece de resistance' of the shop is the locally grown alamid coffee which has received much acclaim among coffee afficionados. it is also one of the most expensive coffee beans around.

as this is a specialty coffee shop, some variants of coffee are quite expensive. but there are more affordable coffee items in the menu. for the dessert, as would be expected, the selection is comprised of artfully presented filipino delicacies like suman, turon, leche flan.


what i like best about tcf however is its very tastefully designed interiors. it is modern filipino interior design at its finest. the lighting is very subdued. there are large tv monitors on the walls --albeit in no way obtrusive, showing videos of popular tourist destinations in the country. to add to the authentic feel of the shop, they make use of wares made of 'pinatubo' ashes.

consistent with its ultimate objective, there is a travel specialist who is on standby to attend to inquiries re local travel packages.

we've brought all our us-based relatives here and they're all quite pleased. i would predict a big part of that is because it's in greenbelt5 and it's really a well-designed coffee shop. go and see for yourself, i'm pretty sure you'll like the experience.