OUR STORY

Yama Coffee Studio is a social enterprise that was established in 2021— amid a global pandemic. As a consequence of inevitable restrictions, coffee consumers were challenged on how and where to get a good cup of coffee. We responded by giving customers the best local coffee and brewing experience from the comfort of their homes. Doing so, we sought to curate the best Japanese coffee equipment paired with the best coffee beans, making each coffee sip worthwhile.

Social enterprise providing specialty coffee

In our humble beginnings, we were formerly known as Yama Japanese Coffee Studio. Yama (“山”) means mountain in Japanese. Subsequently, we referred to it as a “Japanese Coffee Studio” with the goal to promote state-of-the-art Japanese coffee practices through our products.

However, months forward, Paolo, the social entrepreneur and founder of Yama Coffee Studio, came to a greater realization: if we encourage more Philippine local farmers to produce high-quality coffee, the more we can unlock our country’s potential to become a top producer of quality coffee worldwide.

State-of-the-art Japanese coffee practices

Since then, we have transitioned from curating Japanese coffee equipment as our primary focus to being an artisan specialty coffee roastery, where we curate the best Philippine coffee and make it accessible to customers from all walks of life! Thus, finally named Yama Coffee Studio.

Maximizing the potential of local coffee by seeking a greater goal


From our transition, we sought after a greater goal –– to seek truth, justice, and accountability for all stakeholders, from farmers, producers, roasters, and you, the consumer! We held onto this great goal and, at the height of the pandemic where traveling to farms is discouraged, we were determined to uncover another crucial dimension of coffee — the social dimension:

We seek the truth: to know the origins of every form of coffee and to be transparent about where each bean comes from.
We seek justice: to know every coffee bean’s greatest potential as a premium and specialty coffee in the country — and, later on, in the world — and to maximize the potential of each bean through artisan, skillful roasting.
We seek accountability: to be transparent about where our coffee originates from and disclose how we practice and ensure fair trade in the coffee agriculture scene.

From being curators of Japanese equipment, we became an artisan, specialty coffee roastery that curates the best of Philippine coffee. Maximizing the potential of local coffee became our mantra and our mission as curators.

Best of Philippine Coffee

Our coffee story isn’t over, and we are with you as you write your own. Whether you personally or professionally brew coffee or merely drink coffee for pleasure, we all connect through coffee; we share the same language of our love for coffee. Together, let’s weave our own stories and bring out the best of Philippine coffee.

Section