Hawaiian Fresh Roast Coffee

Best coffee place in honolulu. Frank here is a true coffee connoisseur and will help you find the coffee you want to drink. He has a selection of fresh roasted beans to use and various methods including drip and siphon.
He claims that the coffee is not bitter, and he is right! I could drink this stuff black, although I prefer it with cream and sugar.

Let me preface this review by saying that I come here pretty often because I like their coffee. It tastes fresh with a good balance of bitter and smooth, with a nice roasted flavor overlay. The employees here are pretty friendly and they usually take my order pretty promptly, with some delay depending on how busy they are. I also tried the matcha latte once, but that one was just so-so.

The real problem is perhaps too much aloha spirit, or too little, depending on how you view the issue:

On my most recent visit, there were a few people waiting for their drinks on the side, but I was the only person in line. There were two people working. One of them was pretty busy making drinks, but the other one was talking with a few customers who had already ordered. He looked over at me so he knew I was there, but then went back to talking with these customers. No big deal, right? Wrong. I waited 6-7 minutes for him to finish his conversation so that I could order. Conservatively 6-7 minutes. He could've taken my order, and helped his friend finish making all of the drinks with time to spare in that 6-7 minutes, but he just kept talking story. Left a slightly more bitter taste in my mouth than usual.

A few other things that bothered me this particular visit include that the diligent worker was wearing a mask, but the chatty one had no mask to be seen. He was the one taking orders too. They try to work as quickly as possible (when they're actually preparing drinks), but it gave me some pause as well when I saw them picking up cups and grasping them by two fingers, one inside the cup and one outside. Doesn't seem very hygienic. Finally, their new straws are terrible (last time I came, they were different). They look like candy canes and are essentially 2 strips of paper raveled together. My straw unraveled after about 2 minutes. I have no problems with paper straws at other businesses, so the quality of these straws makes me think that it's less about being eco-friendly and more about cost-cutting.

Overall, I think I'll have to take a break from this place and get my fix from somewhere else for a while.

Nice owner who was helpful in giving me a quote for whole bean purchase, and boy is there a huge variety in the beans. Neat-looking Japanese coffee equipment, of course the blended beverage rock too. Prices are fair and reasonable.

Best coffee in Hawaii. This is not your regular coffee shop, it's pure coffee art. The owner uses a very special air roasting machine, which gives a very sweet taste to the coffee beans. No acidity at all, no need to add any sugar or cream. They also have Japanese-style vacuum coffee which gives an amazing flavor to the coffee. The staff is extremely nice, courteous and knowledgable about coffee.

Just another level of coffee!! Simply the best and won’t be able to find this level of finesse anywhere else. The owner is very passionate about coffee and beans. He also explained how Japanese Syphon coffee works, which was very kind of him (we got Japanese Syphon and Mocha Kona Freeze and both were awesome). Will fly here from NJ for this coffee alone.

Great owner providing a good product with AC and plenty tables with free WiFi! Then you can hit up Costco after!!

The kind gentleman that owns and runs the place obviously takes a lot of pride and joy in what he does. I say this because you can taste it in every cup of coffee that he makes. His personality itself brings the place to life and you can’t help but to be drawn to the wholesome happy voice when you walk into the market place. I had the pleasure of having an americano with a dash of caramel flavoring and haven’t had the slightest thought of ever walking into another Starbucks ever again. Thank you for my morning cup of happiness!

Real knowledgeable about coffee. Went with the siphon coffee since its such a rare process to find. Roast their own coffee in small batches. Can't find anyone else that makes coffee like them.

It’s hard to explain the superior taste and quality of this coffee, so I'll spare a pretentious attempt at a coffee sommelier's description. As you walk up the first thing you will notice is the equipment they use– I've never seen anything like it. It looks like a laboratory if it were designed by a Japanese Williams-Sonoma and used by Mad Max’s Immortan Joe. Coming inside, the employee greeted me with a smile– a rare quality these days. I asked him what all the equipment was and he very happily gave me a quick breakdown of it all. I asked him what he would recommend, what their flagship coffee was. He quickly responded the Japanese Siphon, and I selected the Kona coffee extra fancy. As he was about to brew it, the owner Fred Hernandez walked in and, not missing a beat, took over the order and personally made it. I've never met anyone so passionate about coffee, this was truly his craft. As he prepared to make it I asked him if he wouldn't mind walking me through the process, he very happily did. He explained to me how the coffee is roasted on-site in a Japanese coffee air roaster, and it looked incredible, he said the roaster is the only one of its kind in the United States. As he prepared the Siphon Coffee he walked me through how it worked and why it was designed in such a manner. Apparently unlike conventional drip coffee, this process uses steam that is drawn up into the freshly-ground coffee. Honestly, you just have to see it for yourself–it's worth the trip. As he served the cup we chatted about the nuances of processing coffee and the importance of superior quality beans and equipment. Fred truly is just an extremely knowledgeable and passionate man. As the cup cools, it actually brings out more flavor and notes of natural sugars in the beans as well. I don't claim to know much about flavor notes or sugars, but I didn't need to–this coffee is so smooth, so flavorful, and almost creamy that it speaks for itself. I don’t know if it was because I had just left the gym, or that it was a byproduct of the coffee, but for the first 15 min I was very relaxed and mellow. After this period I experienced a caffeine high like I've never felt before. I was just ON, mentally quick and sharp. It was unlike any other coffee I've ever had, I had zero jitters and wasn’t overly stimulated. It was just a clean boost that came on gradually and lasted a good while. Afterwards, I didn't feel any crash from it either. I can't recommend this coffee enough. Take the trip and try this Japanese Siphon coffee, you will not be disappointed.

Coffee is awesome! I regularly buy their beans for at-home roasting too. Cup of coffee here is same price if not cheaper than Starbucks and immensely better than that hot garbage.