Will specialty tea shops be the next big thing in Manila?
The recent 2016 trend that took over social media as we rang in the new year last month had me walking down memory lane. Ten years ago, I was a 22-year-old wading through the field of food and beverage with my then-boyfriend (now husband), learning on the job as we opened our first brunch café in the Kapitolyo neighborhood straight out of college.
We were young. We were idealistic, and 2016 was certainly a time for all kinds of millennial trends: from the Edison light bulbs that hung from our ceiling and the rustic-industrial decor to the fact that we operated out of a container van, serving brunch plates that looked like they leaped out of a pre-AI-infested Pinterest board.
Our little café was a playground to experiment. This included coming up with our own takes on the up-and-coming food fads on Instagram, such as chai and matcha, the latter of which gained its own little cult of fans.
Of course, we were a small neighborhood spot operating against the backdrop of larger personalities, brands, and entities that were shaping the food scene then. Afternoon tea time at TWG was the invite du jour for aspirational yuppies (as Manila Pen was for the true titas of Manila), and Starbucks had just launched its Teavana series then—with their matcha and espresso fusion predating the now-ubiquitous dirty matcha lattes on every café menu—along with other fruity tea concoctions.
A decade later, it has been fascinating to see how these trends have progressed and taken on new life. While specialty coffee has seen a steady rise since bursting on the scene in the early 2010s, likely due to Filipinos being inherent coffee drinkers, tea has become something more cyclical.
From inescapable milk tea shops to the rise of matcha, these individual tea trends naturally point toward an expansion of the Filipino palate beyond coffee, indicating that tea may just well become the next big thing in 2026—and here’s why.
Propelled by the rise of matcha
Last December, I wrote about the rise of hojicha amid the looming global matcha shortage after the jade-hued powder captivated the dining scene—from desserts and savory dishes to lattes and frappes—leading to the niche matcha shops we see today.
Hojicha is seen as matcha’s more sustainable sibling: It makes use of the dried tea leaves, stems, and stalks that are often discarded in the making of matcha, roasted into a nutty, toasty powder with strong umami notes.
We’re already seeing hojicha being used in Manila’s cafés, restaurants, and even cocktail bars to popular acclaim, indicating a wider openness to other tea sources that could come to the forefront as Filipino drinkers acquire a taste for more diverse drinks. Indian chai, with its warm and spicy notes drawing its own set of fans, has long been waiting in the wings for its big moment.
Meanwhile, other tea-infused drinks have been slowly popping up on café menus, such as the London Fog, essentially a “tea latte” made with Earl Grey, as its bergamot and citrus notes come through the milk and vanilla syrup. What’s not to love about that flavor profile?
Something in between
Culturally, the concept of tea to Filipinos is quite foreign. Although recent expeditions indicate that the Camella sinensis plant—the true tea plant—has been growing in the Philippines all along, tsaa has traditionally referred to tisanes, or herbal infusions that Filipinos have resorted to as remedies for different kinds of maladies: lagundi for cough and salabat (or steeped ginger) for a sore throat.
Hence, any modern-day rendition of tea drinking has been culled from foreign influences—from the countless Taiwanese-inspired milk tea shops at every street corner to shops that now specialize in numerous matcha creations. On the other end of the spectrum are the tearooms offering high tea in elegant hotel lobbies and restaurants.
So if milk tea is on one end and high tearooms are on the other, then we’re likely to see something in between as the pendulum of trends swings to the middle—tea shops that mirror the same attention to detail and quality as specialty coffee shops, placing emphasis on the quality of sourced tea leaves, down to their origins, while creating a more social and laid-back atmosphere.
From regional to local shores
The hashtag #SEAblings has seen a revival over the past week as Filipino users joined Southeast Asians in a showcase of solidarity against certain South Korean users in a cultural word war on Threads and X—highlighting that there are more similarities than differences among neighboring countries, including their trends.
As travel continues to become huge among Filipinos, we’re seeing the crossover of various trends from these destinations to our shores. In Singapore, one of our top destinations, modern teahouses have been gaining traction, with an atmosphere that’s more similar to hip third-wave coffee shops.
Other countries such as Thailand and Malaysia have also seen a similar rise in these concepts, reimagining teahouses as places for connection.
That isn’t to forego credit to local players here as well: Bar Flora has been doing its tea bar concept for a few years now, from hosting casual afternoon teas and workshops in the afternoon to tea and gin-based cocktails in the evening.
We’re also seeing the entry of concepts such as Chicha San Chen that clearly capitalize on the local milk tea love by offering a more premium take, such as its own patented “teapresso” machine and its focus on specialty tea bases.
All in all, it’s shaping up to be a good year for tea—no longer just second fiddle to coffee, as it comes into its own as a drink of choice while more players experiment with its possibilities.
