Category: Coffee / Tea

Nescafe Decaf Summer Picks Promo

Everyone in our family loves coffee. Okay, Ken used to, but he thinks he reached his caffeine limit while studying for the Nursing Licensure Exam (NLE). 😀 Even though I also switched to drinking tea more often, I still miss the kick coffee gives me whenever I needed it the most. Whenever I smell the aroma of coffee, I can’t help, but to longingly whiff and smile. It has that effect on me. 🙂 Well, with Nescafe Decaf now widely available to everyone who wants to enjoy coffee without the stimulation, there’s no stopping me from drinking coffee again. 🙂

Nescafe Decaf promo packs

I prefer making my Nescafe coffee with ice. I also like it a bit dark and nicely bitter to the taste. When I have work, I prepare it hot. Our nanay usually adds cream to it too. However way you want to enjoy this coffee, surely, it’ll still give you that comforting satisfaction in every cup.

Now, how about enjoying a cup of Nescafe Decaf while relaxing, say, in Hongkong, Malaysia or Singapore? You can and for FREE! Join Nescafe Decaf Summer Picks promo:

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Saint’s Alp Teahouse : They’re More than Just Milk Teas

Saint's Alp Teahouse - CertifiedFoodies.comI admit, I was not a big fan of milk teas at first because I have always equated tea as a drink for the elderly. But, when tea places started sprouting in every corner of the Metro, I felt so compelled to give bubble tea drinks a try to find out why, all of a sudden, they have become so popular.

Since we started this food blog, my sister and I have already been to a number of milk tea places, but I have never completely jumped aboard the tea-drinking bandwagon until I met my classmates from culinary school who are crazy about milk teas. I mean, they really know their stuff. Give them a name of a store and they would know exactly what drinks one should try there. But, one store they were not quite familiar with yet was Saint’s Alp Teahouse, who invited us to try their offerings, so we thought we should drop by and see what new drinks we could find.

Saint’s Alp Teahouse can be found on the 2nd Floor of Regis Center along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City (check their branches at the bottom of this post). The store’s façade looks simple and clean, providing a more spacious appeal. They’re facing Ateneo, which gives them a nice view of a rich and green landscape.

Inside Saint's Alp Teahouse in Katipunan - CertifiedFoodies.com

The interior conforms to their simplistic design, the tables and chairs are efficiently spaced, providing guests more room for movement, and the clear glass door and windows allow natural light to brighten up the room.

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A Sweet, Sweet Ending at Parvati (Take 2)

After a VERY disappointing dinner at a diner somewhere, we quickly decided that we needed something to make up for the lousy meal we just had. Since my BFF Tina and our nanay haven’t been to Parvati yet, there we went.

My BFF Tina and our nanay at Parvati

We posted about Parvati before. It’s indeed a one stop dessert shop and they help home-based bakers market their products without worrying about opening their own stores. When we went there the first time, the place only had a few tables. When we returned, more seats are available to diners.

They also had a few additional items on their menu, particularly their beverages. We were excited to try different goodies so we ended up with four (4) dessert variations.

Let’s start off with what we had for drinks. Ken ordered the Hot White Chocolate (Php 100). It’s made of Belgian white chocolate buttons and is very rich. Not really suitable with desserts, but we still enjoyed this.

Hot White Chocolate from Parvati

My nanay and I both ordered their Honey Apple Iced Tea (Php 90). Nothing really surprising. It was refreshing and subtly sweet nonetheless (I ended up with 2 photos to use up the full width of our content space – nag-explain?! 😉 ).

Our Honey Apple Iced Teas

Tina ordered the mouth-watering Cafe Mocha with Caramel Candied Cashews (Php 100). It had vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, whipped cream and candied cashews – a killer combination! Ken regretted not ordering this instead of his hot cup of white choco. 😀

Cafe Mocha with Caramel Candied Cashews from Parvati

Continue reading A Sweet, Sweet Ending at Parvati (Take 2)

Parvati : Your One Stop Desserts Shop

When Ken and I thought of coming up with a monthly theme for our blog, the first thing that came to mind is desserts month. And the first store we wanted to visit was, of course, Parvati in Trinoma, a one-stop desserts shop.

Parvati a pastry shop in Trinoma

With the growing number of home bakers in the country today (oh we can’t be thankful enough! :D), getting their products out there can be a challenge considering the logistics of opening their own store. This is where Parvati comes in, providing a venue for talented pastry makers to showcase their homemade creations in one roof.

It was August last year when we first went to Parvati at the Mindanao lobby of Trinoma (I know, this is a very late post that has been sitting in the drafts folder for months). Upon walking in, we were welcomed with a smile and were directed to check their selections of pastries posted on this line of chillers / refrigerators located at one corner of the store. We were in dessert heaven! 😀

Chillers at Parvati in Trinoma

Based on the information on their Facebook page, Parvati features 40 best-selling desserts from 27 different home bakers. They have various cakes, cookies, cheesecakes (love, love, love), revel bars, pudding, cupcakes, pies, brownies, etc. If you’ve got a sweet tooth like we do, I tell yah, you’d probably spend a long time choosing what to order. We wanted to try everything, but we know we HAD to limit ourselves to just three. 😀

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J.CO Donuts and Coffee Philippines

A few days before Christmas, we were surprised with these three boxes of delights from J.CO Donuts and Coffee. This popular donuts and coffee brand that has satisfied the tastebuds of foodies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and China is finally here in the Philippines! And I can’t wait to show you what’s inside these boxes.

Boxes of J.CO Donuts - Woot!

To give you a brief background on J.CO Donuts and Coffee, they opened their first store in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2005. Since then, they have opened over 100 branches across Malaysia, Singapore and just recently, in Shanghai, China. Our fellow Pinoy foodies who have travelled to these countries and got to taste of their premium donuts are for sure happy about this exciting news.

You might be thinking, oh, it’s another donut shop and cafe. We thought so too, not having the slightest idea of how good their donuts were. So, we were pleasantly surprised with what was revealed to us when we opened these boxes.

First are these almond-covered donuts they call Al Capone. These are J.CO’s best seller and their signature flavor.

J.CO Donuts Alcapone donuts - their signature product

The donut is covered with white Belgian chocolate and then topped quite generously with almond slivers. I’m not a fan of nuts on my food, but I’m starting to really get used to it. I mean, how can I not enjoy these donuts?

The donut itself is soft to the bite (all of them were!) and the crunch from the almonds gave them a very interesting texture. It was my first time to taste such a delectable piece of donut so I looked forward to trying out the rest of their flavors.

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Yurakuen Teppanyaki in Manila Diamond Hotel

Manila Diamond Hotel’s award-winning Japanese restaurant Yurakuen is proudly offering a totally unique Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can experience for all us buffet lovers out there. Instead of getting food from buffet spreads and cooking them on your table’s hot pot and griddles, Yurakuen lets you sit back and relax as you watch your personal chefs prepare food at your very own tables.

Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant in Manila Diamond Hotel - Teppanyaki Eat All You Can Buffet Promo

Available during lunch and dinner, enjoy the Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can with unlimited flow of local drinks, local beer, and Japanese Kirin beer, all for the price of Php 1,970++ per person. My sister, Mhel, and I got to experience it ourselves when they invited us to experience a Teppanyaki dinner. It may be a little pricey, but we can seriously say that it’s worth every penny! Not convinced? Let me walk you through it.

Yurakuen's Teppanyaki menu

First, above are photos of the long lists of food you can order with the Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can promo (click to zoom), which include appetizers, soups, noodles, meat dishes, and even desserts!

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Our Top Picks in the Ultimate Taste Test 6.0 in Rockwell

We know, this is an uber late post. But, we still think it’s worth posting about our top picks for UTT 6. It’s better late than never, I guess. Stay tuned for our faves the last UTT 7 at Mercato. 🙂

We first told you about our experience at the Ultimate Taste Test in Rockwell. Now, let us share with you all the yummy food we had that day.

Our ticket to Rockwell's Ultimate Taste Test - CertifiedFoodies.com

It took us a couple of days to finalize our top picks for the Ultimate Taste Test because we couldn’t agree on all of our choices. That’s what you get when you have 2 people (and siblings) with different tolerance to flavor intensities and with varying preferences. 😀 So, we agreed to not rank anything and just feature the ones we absolutely loved and those that were worth mentioning. 🙂

But, before we continue, please take note that we only got to taste what 38 out of 55 food suppliers have to offer.

Without further ado, in no particular order, here are our Top Picks for the Ultimate Taste Test 6.0 in Rockwell, starting with the sweet stuff…

 

 

Sweet Delights

 

Carmen’s Best and Holly’s Milk

Paco Magsaysay, the owner of Carmen’s Best Ice Cream and Holly’s Milk, was the very first food supplier who approached us. Even before we got to taste his products, we were totally convinced!

Paco Magsaysay of Carmen's Best and Holly's Milk - CertifiedFoodies.com

We first got to try the Salted Caramel and Coffee flavored ice cream (sorry, we didn’t get to take a photo of the actual product :D). And let us tell yah it was the creamiest ice cream we’ve ever had! We both nodded at each other in total agreement. 😀

Paco proudly continued on to tell us that their ice cream and milk are all fresh, even using this very catchy tagline “From Cow to Cone”. And you can truly taste the freshness from the milk and the ice cream. The flavors and creaminess of the spoonfuls of frozen delights served to us lingered in our mouths. 🙂

They don’t have this available in supermarkets yet so if you want to have a taste of their products, contact them to order:

Carmen’s Best
Contact info: 809-2042 or cb_icecream@yahoo.com
Carmen’s Best on Facebook

 

Holly’s Milk
Contact info: 813-1385 / Website: http://www.hollysmilk.com/ Holly’s Milk on Facebook

Update: They were the #1 pick by the UTT 6.0 foodies! 🙂 Congrats!

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Enjoy these Holiday Indulgence from Starbucks this Christmas

Last week, we were at SM Sky Garden to try something from the list of Starbucks Philippines new food items this Christmas 2011. We ordered a slice of their Triple Decker Cheesecake with Snickers (Php 130 / slice, Php 1,250 whole) because the name just sounds so delectable.

Starbucks Triple Decker Cheesecake with Snickers

It’s a 3-layer cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust, caramel, chocolate fudge icing and chunks of Snickers candy bar mixed in, topped with roasted chopped peanuts. Being a Snickers chocolate lover, I enjoyed every bit of this. The mixed textures in my mouth lingered ‘til we got home. 😀

We also ordered two (2) of their delightful seasonal drinks – the new Cranberry White Chocolate Mocha for me and Peppermint Mocha for Ken.

Starbucks Peppermint Mocha and Cranberry White Chocolate Mocha

The Cranberry White Chocolate Mocha is a combination of, as the name implies, white chocolate, freshly steamed milk, and topped with a generous serving of whipped cream, a tart cranberry drizzle and crystallized cranberry sugar. I enjoyed sipping it as it’s not too sweet even with all the extra sugar added. Or maybe I just have a sweet tooth, I don’t know. Try it and let me know. 🙂

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Cha Dao Tea Place : A Memorable Milk Tea Experience

We are quickly getting addicted to milk tea and it’s no surprise how it has become a popular preference by Pinoys nowadays as an alternative source of caffeine. It’s healthy and yummy at the same time so we’re happy if these milk tea places continue to mushroom around the Metro as long as they offer their own distinct flavors. One of our latest discoveries is Cha Dao Tea Place.

Cha Dao Tea Place

Cha Dao Tea Place opened its first store in Katipunan, Quezon City back in June 2011 (they now have 5 branches, with one more opening up very soon – check bottom of this post for the list). They’re one of the more popular milk tea places we know so when we were invited to try their milk teas, we gladly accepted. A couple of days ago, after a meeting at SM Megamall, we headed out to their tea shop in Kapitolyo, Pasig. It was easy to find since it was located right smack near the front gate of Barangay Kapitolyo, beside Cebuana Lhuillier.

Vanie from Cha Dao Tea Place in Kapitolyo

As soon as we entered, we were greeted by their staff, particularly this jolly lady named Vanie (I just remembered, I forgot to properly introduce ourselves. But, I gave her our card and pointed at Ken. I need to do better introductions next time, I swear! :D). She smiled at us and had to attend to another group of customers who came in before us.

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Seattle’s Best Coffee New Christmas Inspired Drinks and Partnership with World Vision

A couple of weeks ago, we were invited to the launch of Seattle’s Best Coffee’s new Christmas-inspired drinks and their new partnership with World Vision, the world’s largest child sponsorship agency, an advocacy we support so we gladly came to celebrate with them along with fellow bloggers. While waiting for the program to start, we went in their cafe and ordered Mocha Javakula, Strawberry Milkshake and their Oreo cheesecake.

We ordered Seattle's Best Coffee's Strawberry Milk shake, Mocha Javakula and Oreo cheesecake

The program started a little late at around 7pm when the hosts finally came on-stage – Divine Lee and her beau Victor Basa. They first introduced us to Seattle’s Best new blends in time for Christmas – Chocolate Cherry, Coffee Hazelnut, Cookies and Mint, and Coffee Cream Pie.

Seattle's Best new Christmas inspired blends

Just by the names of these new blends, you’d know they sure will tickle your taste buds. We got to try a hot cup of Coffee Hazelnut with white chocolate that night and we loved the sweet nuttiness of this blend. Surely, there’s one flavor that will be your favorite. 🙂

After the presentation of the new flavors, they shared with us the story behind the partnership of Seattle’s Best and World Vision by calling on the 4 ambassadors of the said advocacy here in the Philippines – Tintin Bersola-Babao, Cristalle Belo, Marc Nelson and Miriam Quiambao.

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