JD has a reputation.
Among her local coffee community in Metro Manila, she has become the person people turn to when they want to talk beans. She is a home brewer, sensory judge, curator of Thunderdome — a series where she sources and reviews coffees around a chosen theme — and, in her own words, the designated spare human of her cats, Rigoberto and Sofia.
She also happens to own four xBlooms, keeps a freezer drawer dedicated to Peruvian SL9, and has become one of the most enthusiastic collectors of APAX LAB’s limited-edition JULITH mineral concentrate that we have come across.
But the story of how she got here does not begin with specialty coffee.
In fact, JD did not particularly like coffee at all.
Photography by Riel / @rielam_ (Instagram)
Coffee Wasn’t Exactly Love at First Sip
Almost a decade ago, while managing chronic migraines, JD says caffeine was suggested as something she could try. Coffee gradually became part of her routine, except she didn’t particularly enjoy the bitter, burnt cups she was drinking at the time.
So JD made a decision: if coffee was going to become part of her everyday life, she wanted it to taste better.
Better coffee led to learning how to brew it properly. Better brewing led to new equipment. Then came water.
And things escalated from there.
“Let’s just say it has been a whirlwind since then,” she jokes. “Sticking with medication might have been cheaper.”
Over time, curiosity turned into something much bigger.
JD began judging coffee brewing competitions and eventually created Thunderdome, where she chooses a theme, sources coffees that fit it, and puts together her own reviews and shopper’s guides.
Somewhere along the way, she also became the person her coffee circle calls when they want to talk beans.
“I’ve inadvertently built a reputation as the ‘beans’ person.”
It is a title she seems quite comfortable with.
The First APAX LAB Experiment
JD first encountered APAX LAB through someone in her wider coffee circle who had used the Lab Set while preparing for a national competition.
A group order followed, and eventually the concentrates made their way to one of JD’s regular coffee meet-ups with friends.
That first tasting stayed with her.
“It’s like going from monochromatic to suddenly transitioning to all the colours of the rainbow.”
For JD, the experience changed the way she thought about water. It was no longer simply something required to brew coffee, but another variable she could adjust depending on what she wanted to bring forward in the cup.
Still, another profile would soon take that curiosity considerably further.
Then Came JULITH x APAX LAB
JD first encountered JULITH through two boxed sets of coffee from Julith Coffee.
Each contained the JULITH x APAX LAB mineral concentrate, a limited-edition profile originally created for Hacienda La Esmeralda’s Best of Panama #1 Nido 7 FC Geisha Washed, roasted by Julith Coffee.
What initially caught JD’s attention was how simple it was.
Unlike the individual profiles she had been experimenting with from the Lab Set, JULITH was designed as a standalone concentrate. No combination of different bottles was required.
So she tried it with the coffee it arrived alongside, and then curiosity took over.
JD had other Best of Panama coffees in her freezer, so she tested JULITH with those too. Then she moved onto the coffees she drank more regularly.
The experimentation kept going.
“In my experience, it’s brought out the best of the coffee that I like and would usually drink,” she says.
She particularly enjoys JULITH with the washed coffees and floral flavour profiles she naturally gravitates towards, describing its effect in her cups simply:
“It truly does make brews come alive.”
How One Bottle Became a JULITH Collection
JD liked JULITH enough that she began buying more bottles.
Not, initially, to build a collection. She wanted to give them away.
After experimenting with her first bottles, JD started sharing JULITH with friends in her local coffee community so they could try it with their own coffees.
They started experimenting too. Then more people became curious.
“I genuinely love the product and I wanted it to speak for itself as much as possible,” she explains.
At one point, her generosity created a small problem.
“I actually ran out of it for a moment because I kept on giving them away just so people wouldn’t miss out.”
What started as curiosity had gradually turned JD into one of the biggest JULITH collectors we had encountered — although “collector” perhaps only tells half the story.
Her enthusiasm for coffee has always had a communal side to it. Whether she is curating beans through Thunderdome, tasting with friends or handing someone a bottle she thinks they should experience, discovering something interesting seems to be quickly followed by wanting to share it.
Inside JD’s Coffee World
These days, JD’s coffee routine is equal parts meticulous and practical.
Pourover is her preferred brewing style, but she is a strong believer in automation. Four xBloom brewers hold recipes she has created, allowing her to prepare coffees consistently throughout the day.
The convenience is important to her lifestyle, particularly on days when migraines make manual brewing more difficult. When she does brew manually, she gravitates towards an Alpha Tritan, occasionally switching to an April Hybrid Brewer.
And then there is the freezer.
JD has long been fascinated by Ecuadorian Typica Mejorado, but more recently, another coffee has taken over enough space to earn its own dedicated drawer: washed Peruvian SL9.
Her ideal cup starts there.
She looks for light roasts with high-clarity rose and jasmine florals, caramelised brown sugar or dulce de leche-like sweetness, and fresh stone fruit.
Then she reaches for her water.
A drop or two of JULITH may follow, depending on the coffee and what she tastes in the cup.
And despite the technology, recipes, grinders and carefully organised freezer, two other members of the household remain closely involved in JD’s coffee world.
Rigoberto and Sofia.
Her cats. Or, depending on who you ask, the actual owners of the house.
How JD Uses JULITH, One Drop at a Time
For someone with a considerable amount of coffee equipment, JD’s approach to water is refreshingly uncomplicated.
Because she brews a wide variety of coffees, she does not rely on a single fixed water recipe. Instead, she starts conservatively, tastes the cup, and adjusts from there.
A drop or two of JULITH may be all she needs, depending on the coffee and what she wants to bring forward.
The bean comes first. Everything else exists to help her understand it.
Beans First
For all the bottles, brewers and freezer drawers surrounding JD’s coffee routine, she still describes herself simply:
“I’m eternally a ‘beans first’ person.”
It feels fitting for someone whose journey began because she simply wanted the coffee she was drinking to taste better.
That curiosity eventually led to specialty coffee, sensory judging, Thunderdome, four xBlooms, a very full freezer, and a JULITH collection that grew partly because she kept giving bottles away.
And perhaps that is what makes her story such a fitting place to begin APAX Profiles.
Not because she owns more bottles than most, but because when JD finds something in coffee that excites her, her instinct is to taste it, understand it, talk about it, and then make sure someone else gets to experience it too.
Preferably over a very good washed coffee.
And, if Rigoberto and Sofia allow it, in their company.
