Ex-OFW gets career kick as ‘Barista Mama’
ILOILO CITY—Asiel Floner Fernandez, 32, began her life’s passion as a barista while working as a bartender in Dubai in 2016, crafting mocktails due to the city’s strict alcohol regulations. She began to take a keen interest in making coffee for customers who wanted to get their caffeine fix. Later, she realized that being a barista in Dubai paid twice as much as being a bartender. Upon returning home to Iloilo province in 2019 to renew her passport, the former overseas Filipino worker (OFW) enrolled in a barista training course at Iloilo Coffee House (ICH), intending to return to Dubai after getting her certification. But fate had other plans. Fernandez, who is married to a seafarer, stayed indefinitely in Iloilo when they had a child in 2020. She was hired as a barista in ICH, which is known for its specialty coffees, and while honing her skills, she started saving money. Fernandez said she wanted to put up her own coffee shop right in her home so she could attend to her son, who grew up diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The house at Parc Regency Subdivision in Pavia town actually belonged to her in-laws, who allowed her to convert the garage into a charming little coffee shop which she called Barista Mama, opening the place in April 2022. Concoctions “Running a business is challenging on its own. But running a business and caring for a child with autism is a whole different challenge,” Fernandez said. “My son needs extra love and attention, and I can’t simply ask him to ‘wait,’ or ‘stop, don’t do that.’ But, I am slowly learning and loving the responsibility given to me. I know I can make it work,” she added. To promote her coffee shop, Fernandez took part in events and bazaars where she started to get noticed by coffee lovers. She sourced most of her beans from La Roasteria Molo, a roastery here in Iloilo province which gets its supply from farmers in the towns of Igbaras, Lambunao, Leon, Janiuay and Calinog. Some beans are sourced internationally by local coffee shops that already sell them here. Barista Mama also sells brownies and cakes which are outsourced from small entrepreneurs. But Fernandez’s original coffee blends are what attract customers even if her establishment is about 10 kilometers away from the city proper. Her first concoction was purple mud latte—a sweet blend of taro,
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