Iloilo City: Coffee Break (the Avenue, Smallville)

Even before the opening of Starbucks in Iloilo, the city already had its "coffee shop culture." One of the most prominent coffee shops in Iloilo is Coffee Break. From online forums I read that Ilonggos actually prefer Coffee Break over Starbucks.

It was 1:00am and Smallville was still alive. From Smallville21 Hotel, we crossed the street to the nearby the Avenue to see what Coffee Break has to offer. It is the usual self-service cafe with warm lighting, comfy chairs and couches, ultra-cold aircon and relaxing background music.

In addition to coffee, tea juices and soda are also served. They also have a wide selection of pastries, sandwiches and pasta dishes. We tried out four different pastries (butterscotch white choco crunch P40.00, butterscotch peanut butter bar P40.00, passion brownie P40.00, cappuccino dreams P45.00) to match our usual iced latte P65.00. Of the four, we picked out butterscotch peanut butter bar and cappuccino dreams as the best.

Overall, I enjoyed Coffee Break's ice lattee, though I found it a little flat in terms of coffee intensity. I'm sure it is a matter of my personal taste. Their pastries weren't bad as well, a little more improvement would make them close to perfect. Being a Starbucks fan, I don't think I would be able to provide a fair assessment of Coffee Break, but if there is something that made Coffee Break stand out, that would be the warm Ilonggo hospitality. Coffee Break keeps an Ilonggo identity, reason for it to keep its domination over the local market.

See complete photo album: Iloilo City, Iloilo: Coffee Break (July 30, 2011)