Heads-up, coffee-lovers: Japanese coffee shop Omotesando Koffee is officially opening its first Metro Manila branch in Power Plant Mall, Makati City, tentatively slated for an August 2021 launch.

The famous Zen-style, minimalist coffee shop from Tokyo will be brought in to the Philippines by H&F Retail Concepts, the group behind luxury fashion brands Univers, Homme et Femme, Balenciaga, Comme des Garcons, and Fred Perry.

David Ong, owner and head barista of The Curator and EDSA Beverage Design Group, will be helping out.

“Well, the cat’s been out of the bag for a while now…. This is just formalizing it further. The opening of the first branch is fast approaching, and we’re helping out a little bit,” Ong wrote on Instagram on Tuesday, June 1, posting a call-out for interested baristas to apply.

According to Ong, two more Omotesando Manila locations will be opening this year, but the hiring process will be for this branch initially.

News that Omotesando Koffee would open in Metro Manila first circulated late 2020, when the original brand’s Instagram page added “Manila” to a list of locations on their Instagram bio, alongside Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, and London.

Omotesando Koffee first opened as a humble pop-up shop in Omotesando Hills, Tokyo in 2011, growing in popularity for 5 years until it closed in December 2015 due to the “aging building” it was located in.

They opened their first Hong Kong branch a year later, and expanded to cities around the world, including a re-opening in Shibuya, Tokyo as Koffee Mameya. – Rappler.com