21 August 2025
With the intense weather in the Philippines, which feels like summer most of the time, the first thing that comes to mind for a business is drinks. Another factor that influenced my decision was my fondness for various tea drinks during my time in Hong Kong, as I used to visit different cafes. I even dreamed of having one.
Moving forward...
Now I have my own business, but it's not a cafe. It's more like a budget-friendly snackhouse. Although I envision a small cafe, I have a lot of what-ifs in my mind about the future. What if people won't patronize our small cafe? What if we go broke due to fewer customers visiting our place? And other more what-ifs. Since it is located in our village, I considered the people's budget. I chose those that are easy to make and affordable for them.
Anyways, here are the drinks on our menu and why I added them...
MILK TEA OF DIFFERENT FLAVORS
When some foreign businesses introduced milk tea drinks to the Philippine market, they became the talk of the town, and many business owners, small and big, considered adding the new drink to their menus. And back in Hong Kong, I also liked drinking boba milk tea drinks because I liked eating what they call boba pearls, commonly known as tapioca pearls. It's soft, yet chewy, and I like its distinct flavor. So, when I started my business, I made sure to add boba pearls to the drinks.
If you would ask, how to cook tapioca pearls? Check out this link
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Our flavors include dark chocolate and cookies & cream, which are our best sellers. I also added matcha, Okinawa, and wintermelon for other choices, as well as other Filipino flavors like ube, ube macapuno, taro, buko pandan, avocado, mango, cheesy mango, mango graham, melon, and cheese cakes. I also tried choco strawberry, rocky road, and red velvet, but I didn't stock more since people prefer dark chocolate and cookies & cream.
I can't drink milk tea without boba pearls!
REFRESHING FRUITY SODA
Soda with a twist, that's fruity soda.
This isn't my original recipe, but I got the idea from other business owners I saw on social media. With available ingredients online, it's easier to experiment with different drinks nowadays. I like the idea of putting fruit flavors into the soda. Back in Hong Kong, I tried drinking apple cider-flavored soda, and it tasted so good.
Today, we only have three flavors, but planning to add more in the future. We have blue lemonade, which is the best seller. Its combination is really great! You should give it a try. We also have green apple and strawberry soda, which kids prefer. Then I added some sinkers for additional flavors. Customers can choose either rainbow jelly or nata de coco.
And who doesn't know the Coke float? Originally from McDonald's menu. We are making our own ice cream here, which I learned online. This is just a budget-friendly version of McDonald's Coke float. Still using the same Coke soda anyway.
COMFORTING LATTES
When people heard latte, they would only think of coffee and tea latte. But the word latte means "milk" in Italy. So our latte drinks mainly consist of milk. These drinks are so comforting in a busy life.
Our latte flavors include strawberry latte, matcha latte, and matcha oreo. The matcha Oreo is a matcha latte with a twist, made by adding crushed Oreos.
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Recently, I discovered new flavors that I'd like to add to our drinks menu - the choco strawberry and matcha strawberry. These are strawberry lattes with a twist, featuring chocolate and matcha.
Who would love to try? You can make this at home, too. You just need milk, strawberry syrup, strawberry jam, chocolate syrup, and some matcha powder. You can check this and this for your referrence.
OUR NEW FLAVORS
I decided to add these flavors, the Coffee dalgona and Milo Dino. I've been seeing posts about them and I was tempted to taste them, too.
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And of course, refreshing drinks are best paired with comforting foods! We also sell burgers, hot dogs, fries, cheese sticks, and other Filipino street foods. I'm planning to sell more food-grade products in our store sooner or later.
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It's really hard to run and handle a small business, but I hope ours will last longer.
Which drink do you like to try?
Thanks for your time.
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