Candle company opens artsy Cafe in Lipa

    Outside the Candlelight Cafe, the mural takes the guest to 

a new definition of cafe. 

On the way from their home in La Finca Residences in Brgy. Dagatan,  Lipa City,  to Doc’s Candles in Inosluban, to the  Deco Candle Inc’s factory,  power couple Marichu and Morten Carstensen  realized they need a cafe to make a brief stop at, or to take their guests to.

All stops have at least five kilometres distance to each other.But the nearest cafe was so far, and had to endure the annoying traffics at the city hall and two malls.  The idea of putting up their own cafe started.

The Carstensens. Morten, Dr. Marichu, and daughter Sophia.

Unique chairs by Doc for sale inside the cafe.

And so, on November 3, the Mortensens opened their Candlelight Cafe, a place where artsy coffee, food, decorative candles, and art mix, enough to make every coffee experience and meals a journey through art and a feast of the senses.

From the facade of the cafe, the mural paintings on the walls already depict the artsy ambience of the shop, while inside, the murals bring a sense of classic and relaxing mood that creates a feeling of having that cup of Barako coffee inside an art gallery.  An experience that one can get only here.

According to Morten, Lipa City’s Barako (Liberica coffee variety) has always been the coffee he’d come back to whenever the candle business takes him and his wife to other countries.

And so, Barako coffee is the main coffee served at the Candlelight Cafe.  His wife Marichu, a doctor by profession and born an artist, decorated the cafe with all the decorative candles she designed, along with art pieces, and artsy tables and chairs that are also for sale. Even the lighting at the cafe is coffee-inspired.

Ordering a latte, one may even be surprised at the artistic presentation that goes with the cup. The couple’s only daughter Sophie, a budding artist, also makes the designs.

Every morning, Candlelight Cafe also offers breakfast of suman, rice cakes, maja blanca, and bibingka with a cup of  Barako coffee.

Candlelight Cafe at night.

Meals include pasta and salad with the Mortensen’s original  salad dressing from Denmark, with 20 secret herbs and spices that gives the potato and other salads the perfect taste in every bite.

“It’s now our fourth home, the second stop from our residence, before we go to Doc’s Candles and Deco Candles,” Marichu said,” and hopefully, this will be the home of our friends, clients, and art enthusiasts.”