Key Points
- Migrant Coffee is dedicated to Melo and Stacey's mums.
- The café is meant to be communal, welcoming people who don't feel at ease in other spaces.
- Melo is grateful for the support they've had from their local community during the pandemic.
SBS Filipino's 'Kape Serye' is a collection of features celebrating Filipino-owned cafes; Filipino baristas, producers, distributors and coffee aficionados; and of course, the Philippine-grown coffee bean.
"I've changed the way I live my life to show people how proud I am to be my mother's daughter, to be Filipino, to come from a migrant background. Literally everything I do is based on those."
Melodee "Melo" Malazarte has not only dedicated her life to furthering her mother's legacy, but has committed to creating a welcoming space for "the other", for the migrant who has yet to find a community to call their own.
Melo Malazarte Source: Supplied
Being biracial
Born in 1983 to an Australian father and Filipino mother, Melo admits that her childhood in Central Queensland was confronting.
"We were the only Asian family in town at one point. Basically everyone was white and we experienced that era's form of racism
"But there's also this discourse of 'Hey, you're not full Filipino either.' Even if I was born here, I looked different. My lunchbox looked different. I watched my brother get beat up and experience different kinds of violence because of not really belonging."
Although Melo admits to not exactly belonging to either worlds, she knew of the privileges that came with being white. Her mother Angelita didn't.
[L-R] Melo, her mum and brother Credit: Melo Malazarte
"Maybe once or twice a month, the Filipino community would have food parties. Everyone would dance, sing karaoke and eat Filipino food. That's how I made a connection with my Filipino culture - through those parties with other migrants and their children who were born here in Australia."
Melo looks back, realising that while her mother dealt with the pressure to assimilate, these food parties were her way of keeping her own culture alive.
Melo and her mum Credit: Melo Malazarte
"Taking care of mum was a gift. As hard as it was, I never questioned my Filipino identity after that. It made me realise the importance of family, faith, food and bringing people together."
BGirls, best friends and business partners
With her best friend and business partner Stacey, Melo brings her realisations to fruition through their cafe, Migrant Coffee.
"I met Stacey when we were in New York as BGirls [women who breakdance]," she shares, adding, "We have very similar values and her mum is like a second mum to me.
"Us both having Asian mums, that definitely bonded us." Source: Supplied
The bond of friendship further strengthened as it became a business partnership as well.
"I worked in retail management and was DJ-ing. I had the best job in the world - playing music for people - but I wasn't passionate about it anymore."
Just as Melo was at a crossroads, Stacey came back from the Middle East where she worked in restaurant operations.
"I approached her about my idea for a café. She was totally onboard. We're both doers, so after brainstorming, we literally found a place and signed a lease two weeks later."
A space for us
The place the duo found was a space in West Footscray.
"There's a reasoning and intention behind everything in there. We dedicated the space to our mothers and everything we learned from them.
"Our intention is to provide a space for people like us to feel welcomed." Source: Supplied
"We designed the space to be communal - to have people sit beside others they don't know. It's a shared space. The design is minimal because we want to fill it with people instead of things."
Aside from coffee and people, Melo and Stacey have filled their café with food offerings that have hints of Filipino, Thai and island flavours.
Aside from coffee and people, Melo and Stacey have filled their cafe with food offerings that have hints of Filipino, Thai and island flavours. Source: Supplied
"Like our mini-bagels, we call them Anak [my child] bagels. Or like the classic salmon bagel, I call it SAL-MON. I'll say it phonetically because that's how my mum used to pronounce salmon.
"We have subtle hints of Filipino and Thai. Stacey is also Maori so there will be hints of New Zealand in our food as well. If you're Filipino, Thai or Maori, you'll catch the touches."
"We have subtle hints of Filipino and Thai. Stacey is also Maori so there will be hints of New Zealand in our food as well." Source: Supplied
Our community
With their shared space, coffee and unique offerings, Migrant Coffee became a go-to hangout for locals.
"When the pandemic hit though, it was definitely a challenge. We were closed for most of last year because we didn't want to put our community at risk.
"It was exciting though because we had a good amount of time to upskill and take our business online."
Luckily, their new strategies worked, backed by a community that gave them its full support.
The Migrant Coffee crew Source: Supplied
"We definitely took on more than we could handle at one point, but people were really patient with us. I think with the pandemic, people realised that we were just really trying to get by. It made people just a little bit more patient and kind."
"There's an important role that those who work in cafés play - you're the first interaction a lot of people have in the morning outside of their home." Source: Supplied
"Coffee is an important vehicle in bringing people together. It's so embedded in Melbourne culture.
"Working in a café, you're the first interaction a lot of people have in the morning outside of their home. You can actually set someone up to have a great day. I think we're lucky to play that role in people's lives."
