Filipina in the US: Coffee

Okay, so I wasn't totally ignorante. I've had Starbucks back in the Philippines. Even though it was ridiculously expensive when you consider the average person's income over there. A hundred and fifty pesos for coffee? Yes if you're 'anak ni Chiongbian' - (Chiongbian is someone very very rich, I hear), according to my grandmother. If you're 'anak ug maestra' - a teacher's daughter, spending Php 150 on coffee doesn't sound very good.

My mom was quick to remind me how a cup of Starbucks coffee is easily a meal for a family in Alambijud. I justified it by saying I just wanted to try it so I'm not completely ignorant about. Surely, there has to be something about it that makes it worth so much. So I've had some Starbucks coffee back in Cebu. It was good. But not as good as good old instant Nescafe coffee with sugar and cream (and maybe some Milo or Ovaltine), I thought.

I was wondering: is my palate THAT unsophisticated that I can't tell good coffee from instant coffee? Man, growing up in the boondooks must really have scarred me from a lot of things sophisticated! Of course, like anyone subject to peer pressure (I hung out with the cool crowd, you know), I didn't let most of my friends know how overrated this expensive coffee is, except for my closest, closest confidantes. I wanted to be cool and if my friends think Starbucks is cool, then it probably is cool.

Fast forward a couple of years and I saw a TV commercial for an international charity(non-verbatim):

"For the price of a cup of coffee a day, you can help a child in need....."

Wait a minute... Have these people been talking to my mom?

On the other hand, I get requests from the Philippines for coffee from America because they think coffee from America tastes better. Mind you, we're talking instant coffee here. So I bought them coffee from Costco. Everyone was praising it and saying how much better it tastes. What they didn't see was the fine print on the coffee can: MADE IN THE PHILIPPINES.