Real Food

I understand a number of Asians are lactose intolerant. Considering the large number of coffee houses in MM, I can't help but wonder what is generally ordered. Somehow, I doubt it's black coffee. Considering the heat, I'd bet money the popular drinks are some kind of iced coffee concoction, but without sales figures, I'm just shooting my mouth off.

 The only company offering "Cafe Breve" in RP is Seattle's Best. However, I do not believe they are using the right ingredients and thusly cannot actually sell you a "Cafe Breve." Cafe Breve is popular in the USA, especially the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington state.) Instead of milk, it uses half-and-half, something easily found in most any grocery store there. It is basically half milk and half cream. It is really rich with a high fat content. You don't have to be a connoisseur to tell the difference. Regular milk does not approach its creaminess, though the less sensitive are easily fooled. Yes, I have amazed a barista once when I told him he used milk instead of h-and-h by mistake. 

Here in Manila, don't bother trying to find half-and-half because fresh cow's milk alone is something you are hard pressed to find. With the exception of Fresh Carabao's Milk (carabao is SEAsian cattle) and the "Pure & Best" Brand, everything else is basically some kind of chemical concoction, whether powdered, or processed in such a way that it can keep without being refrigerated for months. While I believe some form of preservation is needed to make it practicable so that it will last long enough to be brought to market and sold, too much processing kills the flavor and nutrients and is no longer "real" food to me.

My old favorite, Magnolia Premium Milk is no longer premium nor real milk. A quick look at the ingredients show some of the strange chemicals that go into it. You can taste the weirdness if you are used to real milk. It didn't used to be that way, and I consider this fraud. Sure, sales are low and our dairy industry is almost non-existent, but importing UHT processed milk from our neighbors or adding extenders to "premium" milk is as tacky as drinking powdered coffee.

Really? A coffee growing country and we prefer that to the real thing? Actually, I can wrap my head around that. Our powdered coffee relies on perfectly measured sweeteners and flavor enhancers (such as non-dairy creamers) making a consistent brew that one can get used to. But this is sacrilege. This is the non-Italian way! Every purchase is a vote for non-real food. Besides, sugar is a killer. It's already in all our foods and drinks and will cause diabetes later in life.

Back to coffee houses, I want to say one last thing. I order a lot of cafe lattes, which uses a lot of milk. So when I say that CB&TL and Starbucks Phils. serve shit coffee, it’s because I believe they either do not put enough coffee to make the espresso that makes one part of the latte (tinitipid nila) or the ratio of milk to espresso is not correct, so it is lacking in proper flavor. Thankfully, UCC still makes a fine cup (however pricey), as do many other regular restaurants that focus on selling food rather than coffee so they are not what you immediately think of when wanting your next cup of java.

 I met a German and his whole life he's only known orange juice as it comes from a tetrapack. When presented with real, fresh squeezed orange juice, he thought it was fake -something manufactured in a factory. That's really sad.