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Mabuhay Is the Cool, Chef-Created Café Shaking Up San Juan 24/7
Chef Kel Zaguirre's new spot doesn't hold back on creativity—or caffeine.
Published on Jul 31, 2025
Mabuhay Craft Coffee
191B A. Mabini Street, San Juan City
Instagram: www.instagram.com/mabuhaycraftcoffee
Open 24 hours.
(SPOT.ph) There’s something about coffee that feels… tricky, for lack of a better term. For a long time there seemed to be a wall up between the casual enjoyer and the caffeine connoisseur, virtually unscalable in the Philippines due to what we thought was our propensity for stronger flavors—salty, sweet, and sour alike have to hit us where it hurts, and what even are tasting notes?
But that’s a rabbit hole that leads largely to the categorically untrue; local cuisine is far more complex and layered than we think, for one thing. We’ve also demonstrated, particularly in wine and coffee, a misguided tendency to attempt imitations of alien tastes—whether in a bid for alien approval or simply for lack of indigenous references is hard to say.
According to Chef Kel Zaguirre and the team behind Mabuhay Craft Coffee, it’s only a question of creativity and finding the like-minded.
Mabuhay Craft Coffee Opens Along A. Mabini, San Juan
Even flavors we might feel a little too familiar with (ube, matcha… there must be a list somewhere) get a welcome makeover at this place, thanks to both a little ingenuity and, at times, a shot of good coffee. “At the moment, we’re using a 100% local Arabica from Mt. Apo,” says Zaguirre, who is continuing his collaboration with coffee champ Raoul de Peralta. “He was able to get us a sustainable source, good for a year”—more than enough to cement themselves in this corner of the San Juan food community.
That’s a phrase neither they nor more established names take lightly. As Mabuhay inched towards soft opening, next-door neighbor Bun Run and Italian institution Francesco’s, among others, made sure the new kid on the block was welcomed warmly. “[Other restaurants] sent us food, they kind of made a show of getting their coffee fix here,” recalls the owner. “In their own way, they’re still making sure we don’t go without support.
It’s exactly what the team was hoping for when bigger, prior concepts dissolved for what was essentially the lack of an adventurous audience.
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Wire-grid shelves and warm colors definitely up Mabuhay's visual game. Photo courtesy of Mabuhay Craft Coffee..
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Takao Coffee Studios 2.0: Sometimes the Sequel Is Better
We can’t lie; Takao Studios Coffee was most conspicuous, at least to us, in the short-lived Tagaytay haunt's absence. Although the food menu was received well, the equally good craft coffee just couldn’t seem to take off, which meant they couldn’t justify the supply purchasing. “There were also talks of expanding, and we could have,” says Zaguirre, “but you know how it is. Sometimes you lose the spirit of something when you make it too big.”
And now Mabuhay is full of spirit (not least because they serve cocktails after 9 p.m., but that's another story); the deep almost-lobster red of the counter and wire-grid shelves against bare-industrial gray walls give quintessential sari-sari store energy, but the gentle blast of air-conditioning and well-lit merch display pull the diner right back into coffee-shop territory.
An even better reminder is the menu; that 100% local Arabica is a sweet-leaning, versatile blend, showing off the most in two particular displays: the Flat White (P210, Hot) and the Lemon Cascara (P220, Iced).
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Mabini's got the perfect grab-and-go place with great twists on Pinoy classics.
Now, technically speaking, these are two entirely different applications of the same plant. A Flat White at Mabuhay needs no accompaniment, if we’re being honest; the aroma is nice and rounded, cycling through the notes of caramel and berry and milk chocolate all at once—nothing too sweet or floral or bitter. If you don’t get a caffeine buzz (like this author, who drank one after 5 p.m. and still managed to pass out before midnight), it’s actually a really nice way to end the working day. On the other hand, ‘cascara’ means ‘husk’; enthusiasts know from the name alone that the iced drink in question is derived from what’s normally discarded after extracting beans, but the flavor isn’t something we should gloss over. We’ll put it this way: The Lemon Cascara is what iced tea wishes she was, but coffee.
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Ube-latik, coconut-matcha, and other combos you wish you thought of first
The Ube Latik Latte (P260, Iced) is as refreshing as all get out, and doesn't hit you over the head with sugar; while the purple delicacy can be mildly polarizing and at times too sweet, this is one way to serve it that we'd recommend to anyone on the fence. If you are looking to make it a little more indulgent, though, the Kouignsaymada (P290) gives outer crunch the soft inner layers of a kouign amann, and a hint of the salty-sweet goodness that a good ensaymada should have. ("It was time to have a crunchy ensaymada, I think," laughs Zaguirre.)
But matcha we promised you and matcha you shall have, and with coconut cream, no less. The Gatcha! (P280, Iced) boasts a natural fruitiness to balance out what matcha naysayers might refer to as the 'grass taste'—when did y'all eat grass?—making for a rich but balanced non-coffee one can enjoy year-round.
Also read: Top 10 Matcha Lattes in Manila
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The Tocinossant with a Flat White, the Gatcha!, the Dirty White Champorado Latte, and the Dirty Iskrambol are just a few of the surprising new-news.
And if you see the word 'dirty' a lot, don't panic (or get your hopes up); it just means there's the option of a shot or two of that espresso. Sometimes it isn't quite a matter of choice; the 16-oz Dirty White Champorado Latte (P280, Iced) simply must be had that way, and with full attention. The 'champorado' part couldn't be less of a marketing bit—the hint of salt and crunch you get at the top is made up of actual rice crispies and dilis. Complete the breakfast club with a bright red Tocinossant (P290). Don't laugh; think of it as a Filipinized-but-also-Frenchified sausage roll, and the references start to make sense.
Similarly, the inspiration for the Dirty Iskrambol (P260) is pretty obvious; the garnish is the recess staple Mik-Mik, which gives a fun sprinkle of nostalgia and the added bonus of pretending you're in Breaking Bad. The overall taste is somehow both stronger (propped up by the espresso) and more balanced than the iskrambol of your childhood, but it certainly won't replace it; Mabuhay wouldn't dream of such a thing.
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Community Is the Thing
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It's a cozy, contained, yet fluid place to collect your thoughts (and your regular treat). Photos courtesy of Mabuhay Craft Coffee..
"One of the things we knew we wanted to do from the start was contribute to the neighborhood, and that played a big part in wanting to operate 24/7," says Zaguirre. "We serve people who work in the other restaurants, there's a hospital down the road... you never know who could use a good cup of coffee, right?"
It makes more sense in a place as busy as Manila; it certainly makes much more sense as a grab-and-go, too. "That's what life is now, both for us as the restaurant and for everyone else as diners," adds the chef. "And this way, we have more freedom with the concepts; I'm personally really excited to show [SPOT.ph and the readers] more in terms of variety, not just in number."
If you’ve never been afraid of how much someone loves food, you’ve never met Michiko Manalang. She predictably has multiple cats; she less predictably can row 70 pounds.
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