I was lucky to spend last week attending events at the Kona Cultural Coffee Festival on the Big Island of Hawaii. Kona coffee would seem to be best brewed as it is very mild in flavour, but I found a 100% SO Kona espresso full of varied flavours at the Daylight Mind cafe in Kailua-Kona. The secret turned out to be that the coffee ("Sweet Waves" from Kona View Estate) is made from a mixture of roast levels.

Daylight Mind is also a coffee roaster and host to regular talks on coffee-related topics. I attended one on roasting and another on staling, both given by the cafe proprietor Shawn Steiman, who is a well-known expert in the coffee world.

With it's deep terraces on two levels overlooking the ocean, Daylight Mind is also a great place to hang out.

http://daylightmind.com

Matt

I second Matt - my wife and I were in Hawaii last month and visited Daylight Mind at least 4+ times. They're a coffee roastery/bakery/cafe and full-service restaurant with fresh, local offerings- we actually had Thanksgiving dinner there, as well as breakfast. Definitely a must-visit if you're in Kona.

We arrived on the Big Island the evening of NY Eve and had made reservations for dinner. Their website hadn't said they wouldn't be serving from the regular menu but on arrival discovered a NY Eve buffet including bottle of champagne (for a reasonable $60 each price IIRC). Excellent array of starters including Brie, aged Gouda & Bleu cheeses, fresh Island fruits, tossed salad, oysters on the half shell, caviar, cold peeled shrimps, Ahi poke, and mussel kimchi. Main course choices prime rib, snow crab legs with side choices bok choy stir fried Polynesian style, green beans with chopped macnuts, truffle mashed taters, jasmine rice. Finishing with four different dessert choices including oreo crusted fresh strawberry topped cheesecake (excellent), a light chocolate torte (very good), Lilikoi Opera Gateau = layered almond cake with lilikoi buttercream, dark chocolate ganache, and lilikoi glaze (friggin' killer!) and one other one I forget.

Didn't take any pictures NY Eve. Another table watched them prepare an after dinner table side Chemex. Bonita kettle (stovetop) used for the pours. Since first thing after getting into our Condo was digging out and setting up my coffee station didn't get coffee with dinner. Had made us each a Hario Slim ground Aeropress of Ethiopia Natural Aricha before leaving for dinner.

Ok their 'spro, this forum is about 'spro!







Went back NY Day morning for breakfast. Again no coffee with meal we'd already both had a couple Aeropresses earlier. Won't bore you with breakfast culinary details other than to say very good. After breakfast time for my first Daylight Mind shot off their 2 group Slayer. They run their everyday World Blend and 100% Kona Sweet Waves blend for $1.50 uplift. Wanted to try their main blend first. Shot was decently pulled however rather sharp and fuzzy. Not terrible but I could tell it could definitely be better, highly suspected badly needed rest. FWIW they're using programmed pre-infusion no other shot profiling with the main floor Strada. Since that was 3rd cup of the morning (2 Aero's plus the doppio) decided to wait on trying Sweet Waves until later.

Later was the next morning of the 2nd. Talked to the barista about both coffees and discovered they had run low and were pulling World Blend 1 day rest. No wonder sharp and fuzzy tasting! However Sweet Waves was out at day 7, yeah! So of course ordered a Bro Spro of Sweet Waves. (Bro Spro = just the demitasse of spro, no water saucer spoon etc. to save on their dishes) Very good shot. Creamy rich light acidity balanced good mouthfeel shot. Quite delish.

Yesterday morning the 3rd had an equally excellent Sweet Waves shot. Hopefully before the 10th, last full day before we leave, they'll have some of their World Blend with at least 5 or 6 days rest in the hopper.








Pic's of their 2k Coffee-Tech and big boy (don't know actual capacity yet) Loring roasters.




Upstairs they have a 2 group GB5 EE at the evening full bar, event room space etc. That's it for now maybe more later.

Just wanted to post a shout out for Daylight Mind saying they're every bit as good as when we visited last year. They are still Ono for espresso on the Big Island.

Stopped here twice when in Kona earlier this month. Ordered SO 100% Kona espresso and a pourover (Chemex) cup from their featured Kona farm while a friend, who isn't into espresso, just went for - on different days - a full immersion cup and a pourover cup. All reports were favorable.

We had brunch there during the first visit. Both the beef sliders and Eggs in Hell were delicious. The muffins and scones eaten during the second visit were equally good.

They are definitely on the list for the next time I'm in Kona.

Definitely support the daylight mind sentiment.

My wife visited them on a vacation/coffee tour of Hawaii and the Kona she brought back from there was certainly the best. Nothing but great things to say about the coffee, people and everything there.

-Paul

Was so happy that Daylight Mind has a cafe in Waikoloa, walking distance from the Marriot (kind of run-down).

Great, great coffee and I picked up 3 of the books!

We went to DM in downtown Kona in March. My experience was not stellar. The VIEW was amazing...Seating outdoors was fantastic... Coffee that I tried? Not so much. I had two cortados and they were both a bit over extracted and burnt tasting. Hard to say why, exactly, but I got one of each of what they had there that day, and they were not up to my Trystero or Silverlake standards. They tasted more along the lines of an Illy or a Lavazza - that kind of heavy, Italian roast thing. Of course, the fact that I got wicked food poisoning from the "special" which on that day was a salmon benedict (yeah, maybe not the best choice on a tropical island)...probably does not help anything. Put me out for 3 days of my 10 days there... Regardless, the coffee I tried, albeit in a limited experience, was more run of the mill than any of the 3rd wave shops (or my own) that I am used to.
Honestly, I found the general coffee scene on the Big Island to be a few years behind my major metro experiences (boston, seattle, LA, Paris, London). What I found on the island was more Full City and darker... for the most part. Yeah, we visited other farms and shops, but that is for another thread.

Anyway, because it is basically the best coffee shop on the island, I do strongly recommend going there if you are doing some coffee tourism - despite my personal experience...