Picked up Handsome Coffee Roasters coffee at Spring for Coffee, Downtown Los Angeles

Driving into Downtown L.A.

Another favorite spot that I picked up coffee from while in Los Angeles is this LITTLE coffee bar called Spring for Coffee.  They have two locations and I searched for their Los Angeles Street location as we drove through Downtown Los Angeles.  Los Angeles is a big city and Spring for Coffee is really tiny sliver among blocks and blocks of businesses.  I had to drive around the block twice to figure out exactly where I should stop.

Can your spot them?
Spring for Coffee
in the Academy Awards Building.

I almost gave up thinking that nothing in the area was open (yet).  It was about 845AM, but it was December 23rd, a Friday.  As we drove around the area, all the shutters of the store fronts were closed.  I thought Spring for Coffee must have been behind one of those rolled down shutters and wondered if we should move on with our journey to Torrance.  It was a good thing that my co-pilot (not navigator because my Google Navigation was handling that), Kelli, spotted the little chalkboard sign just before we gave up.  You might need to look at the full size of the store front photo to find Spring for Coffee.  It is probably easier to spot that shoe shining chair which is just to the left of the entrance to the building.

When I first walked in, I was a bit surprised... Spring for Coffee serves amazingly delicious coffee out of a coffee bar tucked in the corner of an elevator/stairway lobby of this building.  I did not take any photos of the entire operation (I could have by just stepping back a couple of feet).  I will save it for you to see in person when you visit them for coffee! :)  Oh and by the way, I asked the barista what time the shops on the street would open up and he said that they would all normally be open by that time so everyone probably decided to close for the holiday weekend.

I was pleased to see that they were serving the Handsome Coffee Roaster coffees here.  They had the Don Medardo Honduras that I tried the day before at Paper or Plastik and the Ruthagati AA Kenya.  I tried the Ruthagati AA Kenya and loved it.  Their description of the coffee is "Passion Fruit, Nectarines, Juicy Goodness" and that it was!  Juicy Goodness!  Strangely, I am not much of a passion fruit or nectarine lover, but this coffee was delicious.  I was practically finished with my cup before getting back to the car and was tempted to buy a second cup.  Instead, I bought two 12 ounce bags of Handsome Coffee Roasters coffee.

I purchased a bag of the Don Medardo Honduras and a bag of the Ruthagati AA Kenya to bring back to Honolulu.  I wish I remembered to take pictures of the bags of coffee!  I brought the bags over to Beach Bum Cafe and left them there for some friends to try out when they stop in to enjoy Hawaiian Coffee.  I also left the barista at Spring for Coffee a little bag of Aloha Farms Kona Maragogype beans that I brought to LA with me from Beach Bum Cafe.  I hope he liked it.  I wonder what he thought of it.  Hmmmmm???

When I brought the bags of coffee over to Beach Bum Cafe, I did take one photo of the Don Medardo Honduras.  You can see the variety of beans in the coffee.  Looks like there are some peaberry coffee beans in there too.  Doesn't the bag look "handsome"?  I also thought it was cool that each of their coffees had a Twitter handle to follow.  This bag says, "Follow @HCR_DonMedardo" and the Kenya coffee says, "Follow @HCR_Ruthagati".  Being the tweeter that I am, I followed their suggestion and followed both of those and a whole bunch of others that I found.  Now I just need to find the actual coffees!

This might be a good time to mention that I created a foursquare list of coffee places that I <3.  Of course Spring for Coffee made it on that list!  Here is the link: https://foursquare.com/ricknakama/list/coffee-i-3

Spring for Coffee @ 817 South Los Angeles Street | SpringForCoffee.com

http://www.handsomecoffee.com/

http://twitter.com/RickNakama

Coffee at Paper or Plastik on Pico Boulevard.

Another coffee spot that we were able to experience while in Los Angeles was Paper or Plastik on West Pico Boulevard.  This cafe is known for being an artistic place as well as serving delicious coffee.  I really enjoyed the atmosphere here because it was in a sort of light industrial area, surrounded by automotive repair shops and those types of businesses.  If you don't know, the automotive performance industry is a significant part of my past (and hopefully future... it's just not so much in my present).

Here is one of the custom
metal work tables. Also notice
The custom pipe barrier to designate
their outdoor seating area. :)

The cafe fit in nicely with a lot of industrial decor.  They had custom tables that were crafted from metals and each table had a different design.  It was very cool to just sit, enjoy coffee and look at the unique characteristics of each table.  By the way, certain tables were designated "no laptops computers".

We sat window side, in one of those laptop free tables, but we did use our phones while we were seated there.  I assume that was acceptable.  I hope we weren't offending anyone.

While this cafe is known for serving Intelligentsia coffee, I opted to try the Handsome Coffee Roasters Don Medardo Honduras because this was one that I was hoping to try.  I spotted this coffee while enjoying a cup of Intelligentsia at Tiago.  Tiago wasn't brewing it yet so I couldn't try it there.

Handsome Coffee Roasters
Don Medardo Honduras

I was very happy drinking this Honduras coffee!  I immediately tasted nuttiness and citrus when I had my first sip.  A little later, I went up to take a photo of the coffee selections and saw that the coffee was described as having a "citrus pop with a nutty but sweet aftertaste".  A perfect description for this delicious coffee!  I enjoyed this coffee so much that I purchased a bag of it (at one of my next coffee spots that I will write about later).

If I lived in this area, I can imagine I'd be here everyday to enjoy a morning cup of coffee.  I would probably be sitting at a table that is laptop friendly.  I'm sure I'd find a lot of people around the neighborhood to chat with because of all the automotive shops in the area.  I'll visit this cafe  when I am in Los Angeles again.

Paper or Plastik
5722 W. Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90019

Follow Handsome Coffee Roasters Don Medardo @HCR_DonMedardo

http://twitter.com/RickNakama

Tiago Coffee Bar & Kitchen on Hollywood Blvd.

I was in Los Angeles last week for an appointment that was just one morning of the week.  I took advantage of the extra days by enjoying some delicious coffees in some of the finest cafés in or on the way to the areas that I happened to be headed.

The first morning we were there, I chose to stop at Tiago Coffee Bar and Kitchen located at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard.  They are located on a corner just a few minutes drive away from Universal Studios Hollywood.  There's some validated parking in the building, but I just parked across the street and paid the meter instead o trying to figure out where the parking entrance is.

I had the Ethiopia Yirgacheffe coffee by Intelligentsia.  It was very good!  It is described "sweet coriander, lemongrass, honey and floral".  I should've taken notes as I was drinking so I could recall what I tasted, but I didn't.  I'm sure it was as they describe.  I know it was bright and delicious!

We also shared a breakfast platter of hotcakes, bacon and eggs.  This is a great spot to visit if you want an actual meal because it has a full kitchen type menu and excellent coffee!  They also serve Handsome Coffee Roasters coffee, but they weren't serving any of that morning so I did not try it there.

I'm sure I'll check this café out again for breakfast and coffee in Hollywood.

Tiago Coffee Bar and Kitchen
7080 Hollywood Boulevard
http://www.tiagocoffee.com/

HTTP://twitter.com/RickNakama

Posted by mobile phone.

Shangri La, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art... the tour.

I won a lottery to visit the Shangri-La / Doris Duke Museum for free.  The excursion was for four and it was last week Wednesday.  Kelli and I went along with a couple of friends/Realtors from my office.  

I have always wondered how the Shangri-La was because it was Doris Duke's residence that she left to the museum to share Islamic and other pieces of art and design that she picked up from her world travels.  Photography is not allowed indoors so here are a few photos that I took in the areas that were permitted.

You board the shuttle at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

The Diamond Head View from the lawn.

Another view of the water feature & the view.

Path to the tennis courts.

The front door.

3 Combo Lunch Special from Da Ala Cart

After errands in downtown, I went in search of lunch since I already had parking.  As I was walking down Punchbowl Street, I stumbled across Da Ala Cart (HTTP://twitter.com/DaAlaCart/) just outside the Hawaii State Capitol.  Since I've heard so many positive comments about the food served out of this truck, but have not been able to make my way to it to try it, I took advantage of the opportunity.

I had the $7 "grab n go" combo.  It included a tsukune (ground chicken skewer, asparagus skewer and a musubi (Japanese rice ball).  It was a perfect combination.  The tsukune was soft, moist and seasoned with a sweet shoyu (soy) sauce.  The asparagus had a thin bacon wrapping with a citrus and white pepper seasoning that I really enjoyed.  (I love pepper.)  The musubi balanced out the lunch with it's light crisp from the grill and it had a shoyu okaka like filling.

I will be searching for Da Ala Cart again!  In fact, if I had more than $3 cash left on me, I would've went back and bought more to bring to my friends at Beach Bum Cafe!  Too bad they don't accept credit card payments.  

Sent by mobile.
Rick Nakama (R)

Hawaiian Micro Brew Coffee Spot - Beach Bum Cafe

Andrew and Dennis
Beach Bum Cafe

I haven't blogged about Beach Bum Cafe in several months.  I know I've tweeted and facebooked photos many times since my 1st blog about them back in February 2011, but those are a little difficult to search or compile so I thought I'd write another blog to help and do just that.

If you are a true coffee lover, you must have Hawaiian coffee at Beach Bum Cafe if you are in Oahu.  I will admit that their location, in the middle of Hawaii's business district, is inconvenient even for most of us that live here, but that doesn't keep me away.  If you need parking, I suggest parking at the Iolani Palace lot and paying the meter for a couple of hours of parking.  I believe that parking there is the most affordable and it is only a couple of blocks (5-10 minutes walk) away.  In fact, if you are a tourist, I suggest planning to go on the Iolani Palace tour and walking over for coffee after purchasing your ticket for the tour that begins later in the day.  Don't forget to feed the meter if it's running out of time.  The maximum you can pay at once is 4 hours.

Rusty's Red Caturra
Natural Process
Pour-over Sock Pot

You can also visit the Hawaii State Art Museum located in the middle of the walk from Iolani Palace to Beach Bum Cafe.  The King Kamehameha statue is also located across the street from the Iolani Palace.  Including Beach Bum Cafe in your plans to tour this area would be ideal for coffee lovers and people looking to purchase the best quality Hawaiian coffee beans as gifts.  Believe me, this is not the stuff labeled, "100% Kona Coffee", that you can buy in department stores or is being served at your $500 a night hotel with your $35 breakfast buffet.  I can barely drink that stuff when it's served free.

Anyway, on to the true topic of today's experience...

Affogato treat!

This morning's experience is not the normal experience that you should expect at Beach Bum Cafe, but I felt like sharing it on my blog.  Beach Bum Cafe only serves the best quality Hawaiian coffees.  In addition to having my cup of Rusty's Farm Yellow Caturra, we were able to experience Andrew's (@MAndrew808) personal roasts of a single harvest, El Salvador grown bean that was processed 3 ways; wet, pulp-natural and dry [Sweet Maria's Glossary].  It is always amazing how the cupped coffee flavors vary so much just by the different processing and roasting techniques.  The consensus of the group that was there sampling this morning seemed to prefer the wet process then the dry followed by the pulp-natural.  This coffee had a fruity or wine like flavor to it and that was most noticeable in the dry process.  The wet processed batch probably had the best balance of flavors to most of us while the pulp-natural seemed to lack the kick of any significant flavors.  Dennis, the owner of Beach Bum Cafe, sometimes does these special tastings for us as a Saturday treat and we love treats!  =)  Speaking of treats, Dennis finished up with a surprise affogato made with Tahitian Vanilla ice cream and his special Beach Bum Cafe espresso blend! 8) 8) 8)

The 3 different processes brewing.

The 3 processes ready to sample.

All samples gone!

Our Rusty's Kau Yellow Caturra
French Press
I think my preferred method of brewing for this coffee is the vacuum pot.

If you enjoy coffee, I hope you get to visit Beach Bum Cafe.  Below are some links to my and other friends' past photos or blogs about Beach Bum Cafe.

My February blog: http://nakama-m-photos.blogspot.com/2011/02/micro-brew-coffee-shop-beach-bum-cafe.html?m=1

My picplz photos: http://picplz.com/search/pics/?q=@beachbumcafe&page=1 

@S4xton's photo blog: http://s4xton.com/scenes-from-a-coffee-tasting-at-beach-bum-caf

Vacuum Pot is my
favorite brewing method.

@HNLmark's Twitter Stream

@Konaish's Twitter Stream

@BeachBumCafe

1088 Bishop Street 

Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

(808)521-6699

The Good Table at Ola Restaurant at Turtle Bay. A Fundraiser for Lanakila Pacific Meals on Wheels.

October 6th at 6pm, 2011, the annual Lanakila Pacific fundraiser dinner for Meals on Wheels took place.  The event is called The Good Table and it takes place at about 50 different restaurants around Oahu at the same time.  The Chefs at each restaurant prepares a special menu for the guests of The Good Table making this a very special dinner for everyone.   The goal of this annual event is to raise funds that will be used to supply thousands of meals to seniors (Kupuna) throughout Oahu and spread awareness by way of the social dinner and the use of social media by the diners.  Read more details about Lanakila Pacific Meals on Wheels and The Good Table at their website: http://lanakilapacific.org/.

I am a Lanakila Pacific volunteer and I deliver a Meals on Wheels route on Monday mornings in the Nuuanu/Downtown area.  I was lucky to receive The Good Table at Ola Restaurant  in the Turtle Bay Resort and I invited a few friends of mine that would be able to help Lanakila Pacific spread the word about Meals on Wheels over social media.  

Chef Fred DeAngelo, the chef at Ola, prepared a special four course sampler menu and dessert with wine pairings for this The Good Table dinner.  Here is a group shot of us [flickr].  Chef Fred was definitely cool, as documented by @RickyLi99's Tweet.

1st Course [Photo]- Butter Poached Lobster & Caviar, Spicy Scallop & Ahi Poke, Alaskan Snow Crab Claw w/ Lilikoi Butter.  Paired w/ Lunetta Prosecco.

2nd Course [Photo]- Big Island Hearts of Palm Salad w/ Pupukea Field Greens, Grapefruit, Watercress & Calamansi Vinaigrette, Grilled Hamakua Mushroom Salad in Parmesan Crisp w/ Blue Cheese & Toasted Walnuts, Oven-Dried Hau'ula Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella in Basil Oil.  Paired w/ Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc.

3rd Course [Photo]- Misoyaki Butterfish w/ Wilted Baby Bok Choy & Kabayaki Butter, Chef's Signature Togarashi Glazed Salmon w/ Okinawan Sweet Potato Puree, Ginger Crusted Lehi w/ Lomo Tomato Relish.  Paired w/ Pacific Rim Dry Riesling by Bonny Doon.

4th Course [Photo]- Grilled Australian Lamb Chop Gremolata, Manoa Honey Glazed New York Strip, Five Spiced Braised Beef Short Rib w/ Kahuku Corn Relish and Natural Jus.  Paired w/ Simi Cabernet Sauvignon.

Dessert Course [Photo]- Tahitian Vanilla Scented Creme Brulee, Lilikoi Cheesecake, Rasberry Sorbet.  Paired w/ Dow's 20 year old Tawny Port.

We (included other The Good Table diners) took a whole bunch of photos and most of them can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegoodtable/page3/.

@StarletShay has a YouTube video up.  Check it out, it has each of us introducing ourselves during the dinner and lots of great scenes of our The Good Table.  http://youtu.be/fyHVKMkWqQY

@RickyLi99 managed to capture a lot of great photos of our dinner despite him finishing up the bottle(s) of wine our courses were paired with.  Many of those linked photos are taken by him.

I think we all enjoyed our The Good Table dinner.  It was fun night at Ola with @KelliNakama, @WorldWideEd, @RickyLi99, @StarletShay & @MegsDriveIn's Jess.

Some of our other friends were enjoying their The Good Table on the other side of the island at Kai.  You can read about their dinner at the Nonstop Honolulu blog: "Peek at The Good Table".

If you are curious about volunteering for Lanakila Pacific Meals on Wheels, drop me a comment, email, tweet or whatever.  :)

By the way, all these photos about The Good Table had another purpose too.  Aside from spreading the word about The Good Table during the dinner, there is also a photo contest.  The winning photo will be the photo with the most Facebook "Likes" at the end of the contest, October 14, 2011.  Check out the photos and like some.... Hopefully you "like" the ones with Ola and us in it!  :)  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150865459645077.749454.138499950076&type=1

Hoki Poki Hand Picked 100% Estate Kona Coffee at the Made in Hawaii Festival

Today is the last day of the Made in Hawaii Festival.  The festival is at the Neal S Blaisdell Center over the weekend of August 19 through Sunday, August 22, 2011 until 5pm.  Admission is $4 and parking could be a challenge because the Made in Hawaii Festival attracts more than 35,000 visitors, but yesterday I parked in the $1 lot a block away on Young Street.

While I was at the festival yesterday, I stopped at the Hoki Poki Hand Picked 100% Estate Kona Coffee booth to meet Suzy.  Suzy is the owner of the business that sells 100% Kona Coffee from her uncle's farms, Murasaki Farms.  I don't have any photos of the booth, but Suzy had a nice presentation of the family coffee farm in a traditional photo album.  I learned as much as I could about Murasaki Farms and the Hoki Poki Kona Coffee as I could in 2 minutes.  It was quite a bit considering the crowd of people surrounding the booth attempting to get a sample cup and take a peak at the creative art on a special line of their new packaging.  I didn't get a photo of Suzy, but @HNLmark did.  [@HNLmark is a fellow coffee enthusiast from Seattle that joins us on our Saturday Twitter #CoffeeCrew Tweetups at Beach Bum Cafe.]

A few bullet points that I am able to remember from the 2 minute presentation are listed below:

• Hoki Poki is 100% Kona Arabica Coffee.
• Single Sourced from the family's farm in Kona, Murasaki Farms.
• The Murasaki Farms has over a 100 years of experience over 3 generations.
• The Hoki Poki branded Kona coffee is a blend of the top 3 grades of Murasaki Farms harvest (there is a percentage of Kona Peaberry in it).
• Hoki Poki recently created an artistic packaging line featuring the creative art by Jenny Lee, Brand Marketing and Creative Director of Hoki Poki 100% Kona Cofffee.

On to the Kona coffee I brought home...

They had 4 ounce bags of their coffee for sale for $8 (if I remember correctly).  I brought one home to try it.  To my surprise, when I woke up this morning and headed into the kitchen to make my cup of  100% Kona coffee, I realized the bag I had was pre-ground!  This was a slight problem because I have a full-auto espresso machine so I need whole beans to use the machine.  I was forced to do a pour over, a bit challenging to do when I just wake up (I prefer to press a button on my espresso machine and have some coffee to drink in a couple of minutes).

So anyway, I searched my cabinet for my trusty $1 store pour over brewer and a paper filter.  I added 2 tablespoons of the 100% ground Kona coffee and measured out 12 ounces of filtered, boiling water and set off to watch my coffee brew for the next few minutes.

The grind looks a bit coarse. 

I moistened the grounds with about an ounce of hot water and let is rest for about a minute.

Slowly pouring over an ounce or so at a time, watching the coffee oils emerge, anxiously waiting to drink some  Hoki Poki... I was ready to turn myself about!

Finally, a 12 ounce cup of 100% Hoki Poki Kona Coffee... That's what it's all about!

Hoki Poki Kona Coffee
hokipokikonacoffee@gmail.com

Here is the back of the package.  It has their "motto" hand / heart.
It reads...

quote...

Hoki Poki Kona Coffee is proud to feature Jenny Lee's whimsical portrayals of a coffee farm for its new creative collection.

Our hand | heart collection offers a lovely eco-friendly package on the outside, while providing the highest quality on hundred percent Kona Coffee on the inside.  As always, Hoki Poki Kona Coffee only uses beans grown, hand picked, and drived on the Murasaki Farm where for 3 generations they have been using traditional methods of Old Hawaii, honoring their family heritage with every harvest.

We bring the farm to your coffee cup

end quote...

Then it goes on to their process and serving instructions.  Their mission is "to make coffee that tastes good, makes people feel good and does good for the environment."  You can click the photo to enlarge it to read everything on it. 

Here is a closer view of Jenny Lee's art on their creative collection.
Doesn't it just make you want to drink a cup of 100% Kona Coffee?

There were other designs, but the Made in Hawaii Festival was so busy that they only had this design left.  Also part of the creative collection are smaller "favor" size bags labeled with the art or their other metallic purple bag to honor the Murasaki Family.  Murasaki in Japanese translates to purple.  The favor size bags would make great wedding favors or souvenir gifts if your budget is lower.

The 4 ounce package of ground coffee that I have should be able to make four 12 ounce cups of 100% Hoki Poki Kona Coffee.  That is about $2 a cup.  Not a bad price for 100% Kona Coffee.  As for the flavor of this cup, it started with a very strong roasty flavor.  The package says "medium roast", but the flavor seemed a bit darker than I expected.  As the cup cooled, the coffee had a much smoother finish.  It was a good cup of coffee, but I tend to prefer the more fruity or nutty Hawaiian coffees, which are also a lot more expensive.

If you have time this afternoon (and you actually read this in time), stop by the Made in Hawaii Festival.  They close at 5pm.  When you're there, be sure to visit Suzy at the Hoki Poki Hand Picked 100% Estate Kona Coffee booth.  Try a sample and "like" their Facebook Fan Page if you like their coffee!  

If you can't make it this afternoon, their Facebook Fan Page says they are at the Waikiki Farmer's Market every Saturday afternoon.  **Edit** Click the link to their Facebook Page to see their farmer's market schedule.  

Now it's time I brew another cup and head off to open houses and a birthday party later tonight.  I'm a little sad I will miss the 4th Yoga in the Park this afternoon, but if you're interested check it out!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  

Yoga in the Park with Keith Sato #YogaHi

On Sunday, July 31, 2011, @Keith_Sato officially started "Yoga in the Park" on Sunday afternoon.  The group meets at 530pm in a little grassy park between Waikiki School and Kapiolani Park.  Most of us that meet, know each other from Twitter, but you do not need to be on Twitter to participate in Yoga in the Park.

View Directions to Yoga in the Park from Kapahulu Avenue 21.268725, -157.815428 in a larger map


That map sort of shows the location of the park.  It is the rectangular grassy park with several trees in the middle of it.  There is usually a lot of free street parking on both sides of the park and because it's a small park, it's easy to keep an eye out on your car while we're all just several yards away.


Yoga in the Park is guided by Keith Sato.  The bunch of us that have attended the 1st couple of sessions are mostly beginners, but there are several that do practice yoga regularly.  It's a perfect balance for us beginners and those that have more experience.  My experience only came from doing yoga with my Wii Fit.  The routine is very similar, but the difference is Keith is there to actually make sure your form is proper.  The Wii Fit doesn't really do that part very well.  


Here are some photos from Yoga in the Park.

Here are some photos by @RickyLi99: Keith Sato's Yoga in the Park.
Here are some photos by @PhotoluluTV: YOGA TWEETUP AT THE PARK.
The official hashtag that Keith's Yoga in the Park group uses is #YogaHI.  If you want to keep track of tweets that may be coming from Yoga in the Park.
@Capsun is part of the group.  He created a YogaHI Twitter List.  This list has most of the people who have attended so far.  Tweet him if you are missing from the list.

Yoga in the Park by Keith Sato is currently planned to take place every Sunday from 530p to 645p in the same park.  There is a requested donation of $5 that Keith will use to provide additional equipment for the group.

Hope to see you there!

The Art of Hawaiian Coffee at Waikiki DFS Galleria

The first Art of Hawaiian Coffee event at the Waikiki DFS Galleria started on August 9th. The event runs through August 16th with complimentary tastings of Hawaiian coffees between 7p-10p. During this week long event, the mall also features all sorts of coffee related art displayed through out the lower level.

I checked out the first night because that is when they had the latte art contest. It began at 8pm with a few demos by Pete Licata then proceeded to the finalists competing.  I took a few videos of Pete doing the demonstrations and explaining to the audience how they would be judging the latte art.  By the way, Pete is the 2011 US Barista Champion and the Runner Up in the World Barista Championships.

In this first video, Pete started with the "easiest" common design for latte art, the heart.


He progressively demonstrated the designs that require more skill.  This video is the rosetta.


After the rosetta, he demonstrated the tulip.


The final level of difficulty that he demonstrated was the multiple rosetta.  In this video he went for three.


I know those weren't the best videos, but oh well.  I was there in person to enjoy the demonstration and just thought having video to share might be cool so I shot it with my phone.

If you get to check out The Art of Hawaiian Coffee, be sure to sample some of Rusty's Red Bourbon.  I had a cup of this when Beach Bum Cafe had a secret stash of it.  This is an award winning batch of coffee and when I saw the Rusty's Coffee booth sampling the Red Bourbon, I had to get a sample cup.  Yum!

Of course, you'll also get to check out some of the art on display and read about coffee at all the displays.  I think some of the displays change daily.  The latte art photos are from the competitors of the contest.

I met up with Melissa Chang, blogger with NONSTOP Honolulu, there.  She wrote about the experience here: The art of Hawaiian coffee.  She also has more photos of the coffee tasting booths and the art that is on display.

We also met up with @S4xton that night.  He also took a few photos and those can be found here: Shots from the Art of Hawaiian Coffee event & Latte Art Contest at DFS Galleria Waikiki.

I hope to get back to The Art of Hawaiian Coffee this weekend so that I can taste the Greenwell Farms coffee.  When we were there, there was nobody at that booth and that was a recommended coffee to sample.  At least I got another few sips of the Rusty's Red Bourbon.  :)

After all this coffee talk, I am definitely going to walk over to Beach Bum Cafe for a delicious cup of micro-brewed Hawaiian coffee after I get out of here this morning.