Monday, January 1, 2007

Coffee, me or Dumaguete?

My original plan for today was to write an entry on the food in Dumaguete, but it's early Sunday morning and my thoughts run towards coffee.

Being a typical son of the South (as far as beverage choice goes) my 2 favorite drinks are coffee and iced tea. I had a pretty good idea before going to Philippines the first time that it would probably be difficult getting iced tea........you can't always find that here in the U.S..

I was proven right on that score. I thought it might be a different situation when it came to coffee. But, I'm sorry to say, Philippines (or at least the Visayas) is not a coffee lover's paradise. During my first two trips to Philippines, I spent a total of six weeks on the island of Siquijor without ever seeing (or tasting) brewed coffee. As far as I can remember, the only instant coffee I found was the 3-in-1 with creamer and sugar in the pouch with the coffee.

Yuck.

During that 6 weeks, I was forced to survive on hot tea ..... a poor substitute. The situation was a little bit better in Dumaguete. You can find brewed coffee in places like the food court in Lee Plaza or Dunkin' Donuts; the problem with that, however, is that I don’t wake up in the morning at Lee Plaza or Dunkin’ Donuts and the hotel where I normally stayed didn’t serve brewed coffee. So, when I woke every morning, my first cup of coffee was the instant coffee that came with the free hotel breakfast. At least I did have a choice over the 3-in-1.

During my last visit I was able to try brewed coffee from beans grown in Philippines. I wish I could say that it was delicious but, it spelled and tasted liked burnt wood. I love Dumaguete, but I would have to make an adjustment in my beverages of choice should I ever stay there very long.

2 comments:

Corey said...

If Georgia is anything like Tennessee, I will assume you go with sweetened variety of tea (as opposed to unsweetened). Never in my life had I heard so many people order "sweet tea". I tried it once...and never developed a taste for it. I have always tended toward hot tea anyway.

How surprised I was when Marilyn and I walked across the street to the neighbor's house and, behold, there was a tiny store on the side of the house! She bought a few old-style bottles of Coca-Cola for about 50 cents total. I was right at home, sipping Coke on a backroad in Bacong, Philippines ;)

-Corey

Robert Simms said...

Hi Corey,
The sweet tea served in Georgia is too sweet for me.If a restaurant has good quality tea,I can drink the unsweetened (some can be too bitter).Before Cathy came here I was the only person who could make iced tea the way I really like it. She can now.....after she asked me to teach her.