Union City's Ling Nam Express pairs its señorita bread with Kapeng Barako coffee from Batangas

Ling Nam Express in Union City now serves Kapeng Barako, a Philippine liberica coffee from Minorya Coffee, as a pairing for its señorita bread, KQED reported.

Ling Nam Express, the Union City shop of the Bay Area bakery known for its señorita bread, now serves Kapeng Barako, a coffee brewed from Philippine-grown liberica beans, KQED reported on 5 November. Owner Alexson Lim introduced the drink at the Union City shop in October.

KQED described Barako as one of the rarest cups of coffee in the Bay Area. Liberica is a lesser-known coffee bean from the Philippines that makes up less than 2% of coffee consumption worldwide, the outlet said.

Bread fresh from the oven

Lim opened Ling Nam Express in Union City in July. He told KQED he wanted coffee on the menu to encourage customers to eat the señorita bread fresh out of the oven, instead of taking it to go like they do at other Ling Nam locations.

“I didn’t want to just get any kind of regular coffee,” Lim says. “I wanted to promote beans from the Philippines.”

The coffee is served black and unsweetened. To encourage customers to try the pairing, Lim created a bundle of three pieces of señorita bread and a cup of Barako for $4.50, according to KQED. The shop's Union City menu lists Barako Coffee in an 8oz cup as a new item.

Beans from Lipa, Batangas

The beans come from Minorya Coffee, a Philadelphia-based purveyor of Philippine-grown liberica coffee that reached out to Lim with a sample. KQED said Minorya has sold five tons of liberica beans to coffee shops across the U.S. since it started operations in 2022. Owner Regina Santos started the business as a small liberica farm in her family's backyard in Lipa, in Batangas province, and now works with five liberica farms in Lipa.

Lim told KQED he is selling fewer than ten cups of Barako a day, less than he would like. He promotes it by offering samples, showing people the beans and telling customers where it is sourced from in Batangas, and he says many customers are not aware that coffee is grown in the Philippines.

A family business since 1990

Ling Nam, formerly Ling Nam Starbread, has cultivated a huge following for its señorita bread over more than three decades, KQED said. Lim's father, Tony, opened the original Ling Nam in Daly City in 1990, and Ling Nam's website says South San Francisco is next. Lim hopes eventually to add the coffee at all of the family's shops.

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