Break Line

Nitro-charged Horchata, Handcrafted Chocolate, Fresh Smoothie Bowls, and a Retro Boutique Hostel Are Driving the F&b Boom in LA Union.

- Eric Nicole Salta

Between surfing and making coffee at his landmark El Union Coffee shop, Kiddo Cosio had time to participate at this year’s Madrid Fusión Manila, where he presented a nitro-charged version of homegrown favorite Dirty Horchata, a sexy concoction of rice milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon seamlessly ebbing and flowing with almond essence and espresso.

“Taste it,” Cosio says, as he places the masterfully crafted beverage on the bar. One couldn’t help but feel that this emotional, enjoyable drink is reflective of the wider changes happening in the sleepy municipality of Urbiztondo in San Juan, La Union.

At once balanced and eclectic, La Union’s emergence as a charismatic yet underrated surf destination into a burgeoning hub dancing to the beat of its own drum is not as unforeseen as one would imagine. The scene in San Juan feels like a sitcom, straight out of a Friends’ sequel, only in a seaside setting and without the hooking up, its creative heart spurred by a common storyline shared among most of the town’s transplants.

“What makes La Union charming is the community itself,” says Raffy Castillo of smoothie bowls bar Makai Bowls. “You know the guys who do coffee and the people at Flotsam and Jetsam Hostel. These are the same people you hang out with, go surf with, or do yoga with.”

To think that it all happened within the space of a couple of years is all the more impressive. Today, it’s home to a good population of outsiders—Manileños and foreigners alike—chasing the coastal lifestyle in a town on the verge of breaking through.