As purple ube goes global, the Philippines’ faces tightening supply

Long-time Filipino restaurateur Chris Joseph has served ube across his London establishments for the past decade, but interest in drinks and desserts featuring the purple yam has surged in the past year.

Ube, a naturally sweet, starchy vegetable that is grown by farmers in the Philippines, has been the star of Joseph and his wife Rowena Romulo’s Soho restaurant Kasa and Kin, founded in 2021.

“What was really flying off the shelf was ube from the start,” Joseph told CNBC in an interview.

Their former restaurant, Romulo Café, which opened in 2016 and has since closed, was also known for ube dishes. Kasa and Kin’s menu features an ube latte, ube martini, ube tsunami cheesecake (with a flood of purple sauce), and even an ube cream cheese bread among other creative items.

Joseph’s initial customers were nostalgic Filipinos searching for a taste of home. “What we’ve seen now is people walking in and [being] curious about ube, people that we don’t normally see. … They come in, they’ll look at the bakery case, they’ll pick up an ube something, or the ube brownie, or ube ice cream,” he said.

In the past year, ube has transcended Filipino culture and entered the mainstream consciousness as coffee chains and restaurants hunt for the next viral food and drink craze.

Starbucks helped spark the trend in 2025 with limited-time offerings of Ube Iced Coconut Latte and Ube Espresso Martini, expanding its 2026 spring lineup to include an Ube Matcha Latte and Ube Vanilla Macchiato. U.S. coffee chain Peet’s also introduced an Iced Vanilla Latte with Ube Dream Top for the season.

Ube offerings have risen by 230% across restaurant menus in the U.S. in the past four years, according to food and beverage analytics firm Datassentials. It currently features on the menu at 95 chains across the U.S., and is predicted to grow 74% in the next four years.

Exports of ube from the Philippines have risen sharply in recent years. In 2025, the Philippines shipped about $3.2 million worth of ube — nearly 1.7 million kilograms—marking a roughly 20% increase from the prior year, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shared with CNBC.

The United States was the largest importer, accounting for around $1.6 million, or roughly half of total exports. Canada, Australia, and the U.K. were the next largest markets.

Joseph said the increased visibility of ube has boosted Kasa and Kin’s sales, with the restaurant’s desserts seeing high demand.

Emily Tang, Datassentials’ chief product officer, tells CNBC that ube is “accessible…