NJ's First Filipino Coffee Shop Opens Up In Union County: Report

UNION COUNTY, NJ — Ayala Coffee started as pop-up coffee cart in Union and has now evolved into a full-blown café.

Co-founders Trixie Jose and Matthew Reyes — both Filipino-Americans — decided they wanted to launch their own coffee business after visiting a Filipino café for the first time in Seattle, according to NJ.com.

The duo built their own homemade coffee cart and started hosting their own pop-ups around New Jersey in Oct. of 2021 — from Baonanas in Jersey City to Terrace Plant Shop in Metuchen.

According to NJ.com, they named the coffee cart Ayala Coffee after the neighborhood in the Philippines where Jose's grandmother grew up.

As the founders were both raised in Union, when a storefront on Morris Avenue popped up, they jumped at the opportunity, NJ.com said.

Ayala Coffee marks the first Filipino coffee shop to open up in New Jersey.

Their menu includes ube lattes, which are made with a popular purple yam in Filipinio cuisine, as well as leche flan lattes — the Filipino variation of the classic créme caramel.

According to NJ.com, the menu features many signature drinks curated from Filipino desserts, and others that use ingredients native to their culture, such as jasmine vanilla — inspired by the jasmine flower, or sampaguita, which is the national flower of the Philippines.

The menu also includes classic drip coffee, cold brew, espresso, cappuccinos and more.

Check out this video of how they make an iced ube latte on Instagram below:

You can visit Ayala Coffee at 1917 Morris Ave. in Union.

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