First Sip: Recession Coffee

The pay what you want scheme doesn’t seem to be a very sound business model and it takes a lot of guts to implement one here in Manila. And to have multiple branches with such payment scheme takes more guts than when Maximus Decimus Meridius fought for his life when he was pitted against a tiger. Anyway, you get it; pay what you want empowers the customers to pay whatever they feel like for what they are getting or ordering. And with great power comes… abuse. Some would pay way below than what is expected. The upside though is that since it’s unconventional, it gets attention. 

Hello, Recession Coffee. 

I first heard of this café when it opened its first branch in Eastwood. A few foodies posted their experiences with some being pleasant and some ending on a sour note. I took note of the common thing I saw in each post… that the coffee was just so-so. The stingy bone in me wanted me to muster the courage of just paying PHP1 for my coffee; but I simply couldn’t if I were to buy a cup on my own. And so, when I dropped by its newest branch in S Maison, I ended up paying PHP20 as my next smallest change was PHP500 and I don’t want to ask for PHP499 as my change. (Well, it was a crisp bill.)