Expecting beans, milk, or maybe water, I asked 3-time National Barista Champion Michael Harris Conlin to pick the most important ingredient when it comes to making good coffee. His answer? Surprisingly, soil.
Before the roasting, before the grinding, before the carefully measured cups of water, and well before the barista ever starts pouring, it starts with quality, nutrient-rich soil.
It might’ve been jitters from the coffee I’d been sipping on, but I was genuinely surprised. Not because of his answer, but because of where we were sitting.
Here was a man who had spent the last 26 years pursuing better coffee, telling me that the foundation of a good cup was the ground beneath it—all while we sat across from each other in his mother’s childhood room, inside what used to be his grandfather’s house along Mabini St. in Mandaluyong.
How Michael Harris Conlin Started in Coffee
The Giving Cafe‘s Mabini branch, which opened less than a year ago, isn’t just a place for Michael Harris’ growing collection of trophies, medals, and awards. There’s a lot of family history built into it, making it perfect for a man whose career has been defined by the people he loves most.
It all started during the summers he would spend with his father up in Nova Scotia. Since they had an industrial-grade espresso machine at home, he naturally picked up coffee making as there was also nothing else to do in their area.
From there, his path to becoming an award-winning barista took quite a few turns. One of which landed him with a shipping container filled with 36 tons of unroasted coffee beans and a third-hand roasting machine from the newspaper’s classifieds section. It wasn’t until much later that he would actually try his luck at becoming a barista.
Each stop taught him something new about coffee, eventually leading him to the titles and, of course, The Giving Cafe.
A Barista Champion Still Chasing Better Coffee
For most people, that much success might have been enough. But Michael Harris is different. He chose to keep asking questions, and one of those eventually led to The Better Vessel, a post-extraction tool that he patented with his 17-year old son.
It’s a simple device that has two main parts: the vessel and the precision ball-lock valve. The latter serves as a filter, sifting the crema layer so that only the good parts of espresso make it into the final cup. To most people, coffee is coffee. To a barista champion, apparently, even crema needs a little rethinking.
Back in Mandaluyong, Michael Harris is doing something similar with his family’s old home. It could’ve remained an old family house, preserved in memory or eventually passed down to someone else. Instead, he turned it into a place where strangers could walk in, order a cup of coffee, and make themselves at home. There’s something fitting about that.
Inside The Giving Cafe
The Giving Cafe, after all, is built on literal family ground. His father introduced him to coffee. Decades of competition taught him how to chase a better cup. Now, his son is helping him rethink how that cup gets made.
Walking around the Mabini branch, it feels impossible to see it as just another business venture. Yes, there’s coffee being made, food being served, and customers coming in and out. But knowing what the space used to be makes it feel like something else entirely. And perhaps that’s why it’s called The Giving Cafe in the first place.
For all the talk of championships, coffee machines, and the pursuit of a better cup, Michael Harris seems just as interested in what coffee can do beyond the caffeine kick. The food on the menu and the cafe’s agricultural advocacies are just as much a part of that vision.
Growing The Giving Cafe on Family Ground
After 26 years, Michael Harris has gone from learning coffee with his father to becoming a champion on the national stage. Now, with his son right beside him, he’s back in his grandfather’s house, building something with everything he’s picked up along the way.
This branch of The Giving Cafe is new, but its story most definitely isn’t. It carries the people who came before him, the people helping shape what comes next, and perhaps the people who will come after them—all from the same piece of ground.
The Giving Cafe is located at 858a A. Mabini Street, Barangay Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City. They also have a branch along Sheridan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Michael Harris Conlin is a Filipino barista and coffee professional who has won the National Barista Championship three times. He has spent 26 years working in coffee and is the founder of The Giving Cafe.
The Giving Cafe is a coffee shop founded by Michael Harris Conlin that combines his passion for coffee with family, agriculture, and community-focused advocacy.
The Giving Cafe is located at 858a A. Mabini Street, Barangay Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City. They also have a branch along Sheridan.
The Better Vessel is a post-extraction coffee tool patented by Michael Harris Conlin and his 17-year-old son. It uses a precision ball-lock valve to filter the crema layer of espresso before it reaches the final cup.
The Mabini branch is built inside Conlin’s family home — his grandfather’s house, including his mother’s childhood room — rather than a commercial space. Beyond housing his competition trophies, it ties together three generations: a father who introduced him to coffee, his own championship career, and a son now co-developing tools.
