Davao Date Night Chronicles: Coffee For Peace

Early this year, in a rather lengthy post, I shared my One Word for 2015: cherish. In that post, I said~

THIS YEAR, I CHOSE TO CHERISH MY FAMILY. I will treat my husband with tenderness and affection, I will nurture with care my lovely daughters, I will foster good relations with my parents and my family, I will hold dear and spend time with my friends, I will indulge my talents, I will encourage healthy living, I will cherish my life. Throughout 2015, cherish will be my guiding word in everything that I do.

Coffee For Peace's Mindanao Mint Mocha <3

Aside from my daily love rituals with Labsie, I wanted to have a once a month date night (or day) with him as part of my CHERISH resolve. It could be going to the movies, food trip, malling, or in the case tonight, just chillin' in a Davao coffee shop :) Of course, date night entails NO KIDS. And since our kids are quite clingy, we usually have our dates when they are napping in the afternoon or after bedtime~ when they (hopefully) won't look for us.

We didn't have a date night last January as my husband had a rather erratic work schedule and preferred to sleep when he's at home. So this February, I declare we'll have TWO date nights! Heehee! Date #1 just finished hours ago and we'll probably have Date #2 on Valentines weekend ;-) Here's what we did in our first date night for 2015~ involves food, of course, haha! 

Davao Date Night Chronicles #1: Coffee For Peace :) This is how their quaint coffee shop looks like along the highway; photo from the CFP Instagram page. The shop is easy to miss so here's a rough guide on how to go here: Coffee For Peace is located along Matina highway, DIAGONALLY across Matina Town Square. If you're coming from downtown, it's after Ateneo, Itaewon and Dimsum Diner. It is in the same building as EastWest Bank (green logo).

This is the counter that greets you upon going inside the shop. See that jar full of huge chocolate chip cookies?! I was supposed to buy one but I forgot. A reason to go back I guess :) You don't order in the counter, instead they will bring a menu to you: a CFP notebook with handwritten dish names and / or pasted photos of their food and drinks. Limited selection of food and drinks so you won't have a hard time choosing (my dilemma in big coffee shops, hihi).

My order: Mochayelo Mudslide, sooo good! I guess anything with Mudslide is yummy, right? Haha! Regular price is P148 but since Coffee For Peace offers Buy1Take1 on ALL their drinks from 9pm-11pm Mon-Sat, we paid half price for this :) The other drink we ordered was the Mindanao Mint Mocha, my photo in the first part of this post. The mint flavor was from real mint leaves and not from artificial mint flavoring. You can also opt to add chili to it for a kick! Here's a better looking photo from their IG page:

The ceiling: tapestry on the left and wood carving on the right :) The decor of CFP is tribal / local Mindanao culture-esque. They have books and posters about coffee. Coffee For Peace is a unique coffee shop that aims to promote peace by buying coffee beans direct from upland farmers at a FAIR PRICE. By supporting their livelihood, the farmers now have no reason to take up arms against the government to feed their families. Gotta love social enterprises!! <3

Our food orders: Tuna Melt (3pcs for P70!) and Cream of Pesto (P148; your choice of chicken or tuna). Both yummy! Perhaps because it's very cheesy and buttery~ my personal Kryptonite. Hihi! ;-) CFP also has a Pasta + Latte (100+) Combo promo daily for only P180~ savings galore! If you're in Davao City looking for a coffee shop that serves affordable and yummy food, AND also has a higher purpose, I highly recommend Coffee For Peace! :)

FREEBIE! Our third freebie of the night actually, hihi! Read below for the first two :) This heart-shaped Cathy's Butter Tea Cookies are part of their February promo. Scrumptious and its flavor brought back wonderful childhood feels, hihi! Click the cookie link for a better photo of these goodies :) Kindly pardon my less-than-stellar food pics as the cafe was a tad dim and I don't have time to edit the pics.

That ends the food photos, and now I'll share the unexpected blessings of our date night :) Freebie #1 was our fare! The driver of our PUJ refused to let us pay as he was going home and he just let us ride with him as there wasn't a lot of PUJs already (we went out nearly 10pm). Thank you Manong! <3 Freebie #2: civet cat coffee mini-lecture / presentation. The table beside us ordered the civet coffee and the servers gave a lesson about the habits of the wild civet cats and how the delicious coffee seeds from them came about as they prepared and served the coffee :) Yes, we unashamedly eavesdropped, haha! And of course, freebie #3 was the yummy cookies. 

Labsie and I were truly grateful for the unexpected blessings~ it made our date night sweeter. The Coffee For Peace ambiance was cozy, their food yummy and affordable (frugal me was happy, hihi) and our conversations reminded me our dating days when we just talked about anything under the sun :) I am truly grateful for this couple time; albeit short, it was just what we needed to unwind and reconnect after a stressful January. Until the next date night!