Honolulu Weekly

Coffee is a high-priced commodity that’s easy to screw up, and with Starbucks taking over the world, truly great espresso is hard to come by. But feeling the need to try, we searched this city and beyond for the diamonds in the roast.

Honolulu Coffee Co.

1001 Bishop St., (plus five additional locations) Mon-Fri 6am-5:30pm, Sat. 7am-noon, [honolulucoffee.com], 521-4400

Coffee: A+

Atmosphere: B

In addition to the headache you’ll get from island radio, you’ll receive a second inconvenience: addiction. Your veins will be coursing with caffeine–rehab might be necessary.

With locations around O’ahu and on Maui, Honolulu Coffee Company’s signature drinks, often decorated with rosettas or hearts, set the bar for island lattes. But be careful if ordering espresso alone: it was well pulled but so dark you could almost feel your teeth brown on the spot.

For hot afternoons (as opposed to the cold ones?), the cafe has smoothies too. Blended with frozen berries, bananas or mangoes and costing a measly $4 and change, the 20-oz refreshment is really a meal in a cup.

It’s a wiser choice than the panini sandwiches, which lack something, or in this case, everything. Small portions of meat and cheese (no matter how gourmet) just aren’t worth $6.25.

Worth your money is dessert. Who can pass up tiramisu in the shape of a coffee mug (complete with chocolate steam rising from the top)? At $5.75, not too many of us.

rRed Elephant

1144 Bethel St., 7am-9pm, [rredelephant.com], 545-2468

Coffee: A

Atmosphere: A+

At Hollywood restaurants, rock ‘n’ roll-star status is saved for the guests; at rRed Elephant, it’s the opposite. The baristas are the upper echelon.

The prestige of rRed Elephant’s cultural atmosphere is attractive, not off-putting. And of course, the local art and live music wouldn’t go very far without culinary and coffee excellence to match. Luckily, they do. A double espresso, served in porcelain, had a caramel crema, a nutty aroma and a dry taste well worth the lovely price of $1.95. A latte was capped with smooth foam, and the 12-ounce was already, pleasantly, a double. Despite all this, rRed Elephant actually truly shines with its food. From summer’s sidewalk burgers ($6.95-$7.95) to passion mango cheesecake ($4.50), this downtown gem is perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner and after.

Always busy, but rarely packed (except on First Fridays), service is quick but not hurried. With soundtracks selected by the barista on duty, open your notebook (the digital or the filled-with-paper kind) and let Simon and Garfunkel provide some background folk for leisure time.

Recommended: chicken papaya salad, anything with espresso.

Coffee Gallery

66-250 Kamehameha Hwy. C101, 6:30am-8pm, 637-5571

Coffee: B+

Atmosphere: A

Not many associate North Shore with coffee, but Hale’iwa holds O’ahu’s most eclectic cafe and roastery, Coffee Gallery.

It’s not surprising that poetry adorns the rafters in the hand-painted, art-studio-type seating area; that’s expected here. What is surprising is that the coffee is quite good.

There’s no art atop the bubbly foam of the latte ($2.95), but served at a perfect temperature, it had a distinctly bright flavor. The menu advertises cool diversions from traditional coffee too, such as freezes, shakes and smoothies (all $4.95).

Here’s what you won’t get: apron-clad barista-bots that look an assembly line. It’s more like the employees are constantly on break, gossiping loudly while getting your order.

Here’s what you will get: much-needed lounge time after a day on North Shore in what might be the most unusual coffee shop in the Pacific. Just keep the caffeine from making you do something too silly; the webcam in the corner will feed your antics to the world in real-time.

Recommended: sample packages of coffee including flavors like Sexual Chocolate, the giant snickerdoodle with love in the middle.

Kimo Bean Coffee Co.

Lobby, Hyatt Regency, 2424 Kalakaua Ave., 6am-11pm, 923-KIMO

Lobby, Wyland Waikiki, 400 Royal Hawaiian Ave., 6am-7pm

Coffee: B

Atmosphere: B-

We weren’t sure whether this coffeehouse was a cute, funky one (its mascot is a coffee bean that waves the shaka sign from atop a surfboard), or a sleek, classy one (impressively designed T-shirts and tumblers catch the eye).

Kimo Bean is both and neither. Its two O’ahu locations are in beachfront resorts–the Hyatt Regency and the Wyland Waikiki–so it’s not surprising the lattes are good (even the soy was like espresso-stained silk), but overpriced (starting at $4, they’re worse than airport coffee). Unfortunately, a single shot was flat and merely warm, with an acrid taste that sure wasn’t worth $2.50.

For the sweet-toothed, Kimo Bean offers plenty of frills to dress up the lattes and mochas; for the hungry, the fare is but fair–pastries and pre-made sandwiches that weren’t homemade but not overtly offensive. Just avoid the smoothies.

Most interesting is the progressive decor. With a European flair and reggae on the hi-fi, these Waikiki coffeehouses seem more like hip retail stores than cafes.

Coffee Talk

3601 Wai’alae Ave., Sun.-Thu. 5am-11pm, Fri. & Sat. 5am-12am, 737-7444

The Coffee: A-

The Atmosphere: A+

Blueberry coffee, a huge cardboard mug and a coffeehouse that morphs into a hipster-punk venue. Not many have been somewhere like this, but emo kids everywhere know the place intimately: it’s called Coffee Talk.

A mostly-glass corner store that could be a candy shop, it actually serves coffee, pastries, wi-fi and punk in a setting so weird the name might make sense. Opposite the giant cappuccino cup is an enormous oil-paint portrait, in the back is coin-operated Internet access and to the left is a weird little cave with painted-on windows.

But while the retro atmosphere (cracked-vinyl chairs under blue lamps) and severe oddities (a naked mannequin near the ceiling) are reason enough to pay a visit, the coffee is more than decent.

A double espresso ($2.50) came true Coffee Talk style–in a demitasse with no saucer, with thick crema and a hint of citrus. Coupled with a gooey caramel crunch cheesecake bar (also $2.50), it brought closure to a lunch of salami and provolone on rye ($6.25 with soup).

This coffeehouse is for students with laptops, middle class connoisseurs, kids over 12 and mental patients.