Filipinos Love Fake Coffee

So much fakery here in the Philippines.  You can buy a pair of fake Nikes or a fake iPhone or fake name brand anything.  You can buy pirated DVD's.  You can even buy fake rice!

Surrounded by all that this fakery is it no surprise that Filipinos love fake coffee?

                                                        Fake Coffee                                                  Real Coffee

Sari-sari stores, convenience stores, they all sell these little packets of fake coffee.  Oh you can buy real coffee (they call it native coffee) but its not what is normally drunk.  They prefer this sugary fake stuff.  Some people even add more sugar as if there isn't enough already!

The packets sell for 7 pesos so if you have two a day every day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) that comes out to 420 pesos a month! You can buy 1 kg of real coffee from the market for 200 pesos and that will last for a lot longer than a month.  And you will get more cups out of it.  

And think of all the trash!  Millions of Filipinos drinking a packet a day!  The Philippines already has a litter problem. People here throw their trash on the ground without batting an eye. These fake coffee packets are only adding to the litter problem.

Saving money and the environment? So what! Fake coffee smells delicious, tastes sweet, and is easy to prepare and that's what they prefer.