What Works: Kopiko Brown and Nescafe Brown Coffee

Since when did we all become such heavy coffee drinkers? The advent and eventual popularity of gourmet coffee shops Starbucks and Seattle’s best is about the greatest testimony to subliminal and trickle-down marketing. These companies do not make use of traditional marketing too much, no TV and radio commercials, not much print advertising. They rely heavily on positioning their brand as expensive and unattainable for all. Therefore, everyone wants a piece of the action. We see intelligent- and rich-looking people sipping coffee in the open space and we want a taste of what they are having.

Coffee is a biggie in our household I remember growing up to a big jar of instant coffee (always Nescafe), creamer and sugar and an airpot that keeps the water warm the whole day. If coffee is indeed addictive like they say it is then I am an addict. I frequent these gourmet coffeehouses. My first taste of Starbucks was around the late 1990s though I’ve been hearing Jay Leno’s comedy sketches on this really expensive coffee. The branch where I had my first sip of their latte was at the 6750 Ayala branch. It’s funny why most people would easily pick latte over other coffee mixes, seeing that most Filipinos are lactose intolerant. I learned quite quickly and switched to soy latte. My experience with Seattle’s Best came a lot later and only because they have better seating at Greenbelt 3.

So being on this potion for over a decade now, I have started to crave for it on a daily basis which my purse strings wouldn’t allow. Even their instant coffee cost around PHP 30-50 pesos and I am not willing to shell out just to get a taste of expensive coffee. Pretty recently, like about a year or so now, coffee brands have found the closest thing to gourmet coffee. I am talking about Kopiko Brown and Nescafe Brown coffee. These two varieties are a departure from the lame and bland 3-in-1 coffee brands that have been around for some time. When I first tasted Kopiko Brown I instantly got the feeling of drinking one of my favorite coffee concoctions at Starbucks, the half and half White Mocha Americano. I swear it has the exact same taste. Kopiko Brown was an instant hit and soon it is the only 3-in-1 coffee that runs out quickly in sari-sari stores so I had to get them by the bulk from the grocery. Pretty soon Nescafe came out with their own version which I must say tastes better (but that’s just me) so I switched. At around PHP 6.00 a pop, I can have the gourmet coffee experience in the office and at home anytime! This definitely works for me fine…