There is a new cafe in NBS Park Pioneer, and it has been eight years in the making. In April 2026, Type A Coffee opened its latest branch in Mandaluyong. But behind it is a story of a brand that grew from nothing into one of Manila's most respected names in coffee.
It Started With a Bottle in a Fridge
Type A Coffee was a cold brew concentrate in a bottle that founder Danielle Canlas-Torres kept in her fridge. She returned home from Central America in 2018, having spent time sourcing specialty beans from some of the world's best farms. Nothing in Manila matched what she had tasted at origin. So she made her own.
She ground Panamanian beans she and her partners had roasted themselves, steeped them, strained the result, and poured it over ice the next morning. Clean, bold, no bitterness, no sourness. She called it Type A and started delivering it to people's doors.
Unexpectedly, the cold brew delivery service grew quietly and fast. The concentrate, bottled in reusable glass, built a loyal following through word of mouth. Then CNN Philippines found it. Then Tatler Asia. Then Nolisoli, Spot.ph, Cosmopolitan, and Click the City. Stockists in Joel's Place in Rockwell and Ayala carried it. Type A had a real brand before it ever had a room to call its own.
Sheridan Was the Proof of Concept
In 2020, Type A opened Shared Space on Sheridan Street in Mandaluyong, connected to its roaster and bottling facility. Small but deliberate, it seated four people comfortably and included wall outlets, WiFi, and air conditioning. Two parking slots sat out front.
The staff were friendly and knew the menu well. Cold brew was the reason most people came, and specialty drinks like the Cereal Milk Cold Brew and Malagos Mocha gave them more reasons to stay. Even the croissant developed its own following.
New Chapter Begins at NBS Park Pioneer
Last month, Type A Coffee opened a new, larger branch at NBS Park Pioneer in Mandaluyong. It is the brand's most significant physical expansion since Shared Space first opened its doors six years ago.
The move is not a reinvention. It is a continuation of everything Type A has always been, more room to do it in. The cold brew that built the brand is still the anchor. The in-house roasted beans, the carefully selected single origins, including the Geisha Natural, the milk mixers, syrups, and cold brew sauce that have quietly become a full product ecosystem, all of it comes with the brand.
What changes is the scale. A larger space means more people can experience what regulars in Sheridan have known for years, that Type A is not a cafe trying to look like a coffee brand. It is a coffee brand that earned the right to a bigger room.
Type A Coffee started in a kitchen. Now, it has a roaster, a delivery operation, stockists across Metro Manila, and a new cafe branch in one of Mandaluyong's most active neighborhoods.
The bottle in the fridge came a long way.
