Coffee has a way of taking us places.
An espresso can bring Italy to the table. A Vietnamese phin introduces another way of brewing. Japanese coffee culture has made precision and patience part of the ritual, while cafés around the world continue to reinterpret what can be done with a cup.
On International Coffee Day on Oct. 1, much of the conversation naturally looks outward. But Filipino coffee culture has been experimenting, too, this time with a distinctly local ingredient: asin tibuok.
In 2025, Unesco inscribed the traditional knowledge and practices surrounding the making of asin tibuok on its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, recognizing both its cultural importance and the challenges threatening its continuity.
The heritage salt from Bohol is known for its distinctive dome-like form and labor-intensive production. Made through a traditional process involving seawater, coconut husks, ash, brine and fire, each piece carries knowledge passed down through generations.
Now, that centuries-old ingredient is finding its way into a much younger setting: the specialty coffee scene.
During Cebu Press Freedom Week, I was invited to a lunch for lifestyle writers at Café Summit on Sept. 22, 2026. It was also my first time tasting coffee infused with asin tibuok.
The first sip was familiar and unfamiliar at once. There was the sweetness and creaminess of a latte, but underneath it was a subtle smokiness that gave the coffee another layer.
In conversation with captain bartender Albert Sitones, the connection began with the same thing that drew him to coffee in the first place, curiosity.
“Every time I watched our baristas operate the coffee machine and make espresso, I became curious and interested,” he said.
That curiosity grew when he was assigned as a bar assistant. He began asking how the machine worked, what each function did and how small adjustments could change the final cup.
The same curiosity eventually brought him to asin tibuok.
After visiting coffee shops around Cebu, Sitones said one flavor kept catching his attention: salted caramel. It made him wonder how he could create his own interpretation using a distinctly local ingredient.
“What if we create our own version?” he recalled. The first experiments used ordinary salt.
“At first, we used regular salt, but it made the drink too salty and bitter,” he said.
His manager then suggested trying asin tibuok.
“From there, we continued experimenting and refining the recipe,” Sitones said.
The process took almost two months of trials and adjustments before they arrived at what they call the Asin Tibuok Crema Latte.
“Day by day, the drink became better,” he said.
The final version was slightly sweet, balanced and carried a subtle smokiness from the heritage salt.
What makes the experiment interesting is that asin tibuok does more than add saltiness to coffee.
“Ordinary table salt mainly provides saltiness, which can sometimes taste flat and sharp,” Sitones said. “If used incorrectly, it can overpower the coffee.”
Authentic asin tibuok, he explained, has more layers of flavor.
“When we use it in coffee, the purpose is not simply to make the drink salty. Instead, it helps enhance the caramel and chocolate notes of the coffee, balance the bitterness and create a longer, smoother aftertaste.”
That difference comes from the ingredient itself.
Traditionally made from seawater and processed through coconut husks, ash, concentrated brine and fire, asin tibuok is the product of a process that relies heavily on traditional knowledge and careful judgment.
Its use in coffee places that heritage in a new context.
A local ingredient once associated with traditional food practices can now be encountered in a specialty coffee cup, giving younger drinkers another way to discover it.
“That is what makes asin tibuok special,” Sitones said. “It adds another layer of flavor and allows the coffee and the local ingredient to complement each other.”
Coffee has long crossed borders, carrying brewing methods, ingredients and traditions with it. Filipino cafés have likewise embraced influences from around the world while finding ways to make them feel closer to home.
Sitones sees familiar flavors as one way to make that connection.
“I also enjoy introducing flavors that connect with the Filipino palate,” he said.
“Filipinos generally enjoy sweeter flavors, so when we incorporate familiar flavors into coffee, guests can relate to them more easily while still discovering something new.”
In this case, the familiar is not simply a flavor. It is an ingredient with a history.
That makes the experiment with asin tibuok less about creating another specialty drink and more about what happens when a heritage ingredient is allowed to enter a contemporary food culture.
Innovation does not always mean finding something entirely new. Sometimes, it means looking again at what has been here all along.
That also comes with responsibility.
Asin tibuok has faced concerns over counterfeit products entering the market, making authenticity an important part of preserving the ingredient’s identity. The heritage salt from Alburquerque, Bohol was also registered as a Geographical Indication in 2025, providing formal protection for its name and connection to its place of origin.
For Sitones, using the ingredient means knowing what goes into the cup.
“For us, authenticity is very important because asin tibuok is not just an ingredient — it is part of our local heritage and culture,” he said.
He said they check the ingredient’s origin, production method, quality and consistency before using it.
“For me, it is also about supporting the people and communities who continue this traditional craft,” Sitones said.
“When we use authentic asin tibuok, we are not only creating a unique coffee drink — we are also helping preserve and promote a Filipino tradition.”
That responsibility gives the experiment another dimension. The ingredient is no longer simply being used to make coffee taste different. Its presence also raises questions about where food comes from, who makes it and how traditional knowledge survives when it enters modern markets.
Sitones said his years around coffee have taught him that good coffee depends on more than expensive equipment or premium beans.
“You can have the most expensive coffee machine, the best beans and the finest tools, but if you don’t know how to use them properly, the result will not be good.”
The same could be said about an ingredient like asin tibuok.
Its value is not only in its taste. It is in the knowledge, labor and history behind it.
A cup of coffee infused with asin tibuok may seem like a small experiment, but it creates a meeting point between two very different worlds: a global beverage culture that is constantly evolving and a Filipino tradition that is working to survive.
Coffee may already be a global language, but every place speaks it differently.
In the Philippines, that language can include local beans, familiar flavors and ingredients with stories much older than the modern café.
Even something as seemingly simple as salt can carry a history of seawater, fire, craft and community — and, in a changing coffee culture, find its way into a new generation of cups. S