After establishing his coffee company, Escueta returns to music with his first single, “Summer Dream,” in seven years.
It was the cusp of something new when Frank & Dean Coffee first opened its doors in 2019. The BGC-based cafe just began to shape its vision when the pandemic gradually took hold a year later. To sustain the business, the Dream Latte was launched, a beverage created exclusively available via bottle. The Dream Latte helped fuel the brand’s growth and customers, and it’s been five years of it being the brand’s foundation.
The man behind the dream is founder Miguel Escueta, who started out as a rising name in OPM in the mid-2000s. Before establishing Frank & Dean Coffee, he’s been a mainstay in a variety show, launched a band, and released albums with songs such as “Sleeping While the World’s Awake,” “Handa,” “Falling Away,” and “Isipin.”
After years of hiatus in the OPM scene, Escueta returns with his new single, “Summer Dream.” “I guess subconsciously I like the word ‘dream’,” he says. “It’s always been tied to what I chase.”
Coffee-Driven
But as his own family grew, Escueta decided on new paths. “It was really just me making that decision, that I had to focus my energy on building Frank & Dean Coffee and time with my family,” he says. “I tried to do it along with gigs and tours, but getting home late just didn’t feel right, especially after having my newborn daughter.”
Growing up in a family of coffee lovers, he decided to open his own coffee business. He made sure music remained part of the story, naming Frank & Dean Coffee after two of his favorite artists, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
On the cafe’s identity, Escueta says that Frank & Dean Coffee and its customer base are “coffee-driven.” Aside from their flagship cafe and roastery in Five/NEO BGC, they also have espresso bars in corporate spaces like Unilever and GCash. “Even if we’re in corporate spaces, no matter what industry you’re in, whether you’re in an agency, you’re a writer, artist, or brand manager, as long as you are determined to achieve your goals and coffee helps you along the way, then you are our people, you are #CoffeeDriven,” he says.
Among their bestsellers are their other bottled variations, the Mocha Dream, a chocolate twist of the Dream Latte, and the Coco Dream, a vegan-friendly option. Beyond their bottled line, Frank & Dean Coffee also offers in-house specialties like their Salted Cream Latte.
Returning to Music
Just weeks before the release of “Summer Dream,” Escueta gave Vogue Philippines an exclusive listen inside the Frank & Dean Coffee HQ. “I forgot how therapeutic writing music can be,” Escueta recounts, “I didn’t plan to write anything. I came across this old piano hook I wrote before and when I heard it again, I just started writing.”
Escueta first released his album when he was 23. Now, decades later, Escueta reawakens a part of himself that never left. “If I could have coffee with my younger self, I would probably tell him not to worry too much about what others think and don’t let it affect your decisions because at the end of the day, this life is yours and yours to create,” he says.
His new music, he says, complements the life he’s built around coffee. “Coffee and music go well together. Creating coffee and music is the same. You build a brand, craft the drinks, shape the experience. With music, it’s no different. You create a mood, a feeling, and send it out to the world.” As Escueta takes this new chapter, blending both of his worlds, with the strong support of his family, he invites listeners to experience something “honest, nostalgic, and real.”
“Summer Dream” by Miguel Escueta is now out on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. The song is brought to you by the Liga Artist Group and released through Big House Records.
