22 Tango Records’ Ella Melendez and Cattski Espina, Loudbasstard’s Koh Onozawa, Bo’s Coffee CEO Steve Benitez and Bo’s Coffee COO Ivy Benatiro (Photo by Johanna Michelle Lim)
It’s a happy relationship: You order your favorite drink, sit down at a corner, begin sipping it the way you satisfy a fix, an epiphany sometimes occurs in between, and if you’re lucky, a date will materialize. Suddenly, you hear a familiar refrain, and now caught up in a rapture, you ask the barista about the artist of the music being played, or if you can have a copy of the CD somewhere. Then the barista, beaming a 200-megawatt smile, answers, “You can buy it here.”
You must have stepped inside this habit-forming place called Bo’s, which was named after a barista at a coffee shop in Italy. When Bo’s Coffee Club, that distinguished Cebu-based coffee shop, opened its doors to the caffeine-drinking public 15 years ago, it had the special tagline “Perking Up Cebu.” And, true enough, the coffee shop has evolved through the years from being an “enabler” to being an “influencer.”
Bo’s began sourcing out its Arabica coffee beans in the mountains of Kitanglad, among others, in support of local homegrown coffee. Then, in one of its biggest and boldest moves to date, it partnered with Anthill Fabric late last year for the commemorative indigenous fabric woven in its tumblers.
This summer, it has teamed up with an independent, if not underground, record label, 22 Tango Records to have all of its albums played in 10 of its branches in Cebu. So one can sip his cup of coffee and listen to Cattski’s “Sea Hue” or the monster hit “Balay ni Mayang” sung by Martina Sandiego and Kyle Wong, or any of the other records under the 22 Tango Records label.
“(I’ve always wanted to) put indie music out into the world. (The goal of) Bo’s Coffee is to be an enabler of homegrown talents and help expose them,” Benitez said.
As if that’s not enough, Bo’s has also teamed up with world-class all Cebuano-made Loudbasstard amplifiers.
Loudbasstard Administrative Director Juli-Anna McGovern of Loudbasstard also talked about working with Bo’s as Loudbasstard’s main goal is to “put a stamp on a homegrown brand, and bring that abroad.” Loudbasstard amplifiers can be bought at select Bo’s branches, and Bo’s patrons have a chance to enjoy them while sipping their favorite drinks.
“The Loudbasstard amplifiers will be available (at the outside area) for people who want to enjoy their cup of coffee there. That way, every person can enjoy their own music, and when they think music they think Bo’s and when they think Bo’s they think music, and it goes hand in hand. Because it really does make for the perfect experience when you listen to your own music with your group of friends,” McGovern told CDN.
Music and coffee, indeed, are the perfect combination for creating a culture of appreciation of the
Cebuano genius.
It’s a rebranding for that synergistic impact that percolates the perfect brew. (Additional report by Bjorn Abraham Tabanera)
Watch Cattski Espina’s impromptu rendition of an original composition:
