Dani and Nick Mitchell, husband-and-wife owners of Kooks Coffee, love surfing. Their favorite spot is Canoes, according to Dani Mitchell.
“We’re not very good,” she says. “It’s (Canoes) the best place for the low rollers, nothing crazy.
“A ‘kook’ is a newbie surfer, someone a little goofy and inexperienced on the water,” she adds. “Many people avoid surfing because they don’t want to look like a kook, so they never start. The truth is, being a kook is a universal equalizer — everyone starts somewhere. We want to encourage people to make the jump and embrace the journey, just like we did when opening up Kooks.”
The Mitchells used to make and try different coffee recipes as a hobby, according to Mitchell.
“We have such a passion for coffee,” she says. “When we both worked at corporate jobs, we would go to local coffee shops in our area; we love checking them out. It would be our favorite part of the day; we would make and try (coffee) recipes. We were like, ‘How can we turn this into a living?’ We started experimenting with all the flavors and came up with these unique flavors we wanted to share with everybody.”
Kooks Coffee opened its first location last March on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus. It’s located near Campus Center — “on food truck row, under the banyan tree; there are a lot of food trucks there,” Mitchell says — and is currently open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays to Fridays.
To celebrate its first year of business, Kooks Coffee recently opened its second location in Kakaʻako on Cooke Street.
“This new spot has been much more accessible for non-students and has given us an opportunity to really connect with the community off-campus as well,” Mitchell says. “It’s been open for three weeks now.
“This location is relatively close to our other location, so we love that about it,” she adds. “We’ve grown so much at UH — we love the community there — but we have a lot of people who wanted to try us, but haven’t been able to get on campus. This has been the best of both worlds.”
The menu comprises signature lattes and plant-based energy drinks. The menu at the business’s UH Mānoa and Kakaʻako locations is the same. All drinks are available as hot or iced options; hot drinks come in 12-ounce sizes and iced drinks come in 16-ounce cups.
The names for the drinks are mostly based on surf terms, according to Mitchell.
“Dawn Patrol is a surf term,” she says. “Duke is for Duke Kahanamoku. ‘Loco Mocha’ is a play on words for the classic dish, the loco moco. That drink is our chocolate and coconut.”
The Nanner — the business’s housemade banana milk latte — Dawn Patrol (toasted macadamia nut latte with vanilla) and Ubae Watch (ube latte) are the top three bestselling drinks, according to Mitchell. She says the ube latte was featured on the business’s summer menu last year, and it was so popular that it was added to the regular menu.
“We focus on creating unique flavors with housemade syrups using as many locally sourced ingredients as possible,” she says. “The Dawn Patrol features our toasted macadamia nut and vanilla syrup, using fresh Lāʻie vanilla beans. We use the Lokahi blend (from Honolulu Coffee Co.); they’re great to work with.”
The business’s white cap ($1) — a dairy-free coconut cold foam made with coconut milk, cream and housemade toasted coconut syrup — is a popular add-on for many lattes. The business also offers plant-based energy drinks called Rockers.
“They’re going to be made with lotus, which is a plant-based energy concentrate,” Mitchell says. “We get that imported from the Mainland and we combine it with fresh juices, housemade syrups and club soda. They’re bubbly and refreshing, like an alternative to Redbull.”
Other drink options include Gnarly Chai, party wave (‘Ōhia Lehua honey and cinnamon), and Kooky monster (mocha and fresh mint).
Partnering with local businesses is important to the Mitchells. So far, the business partners with Mānoa Honey & Mead, Honolulu Coffee Co., Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Co. and Mānoa Chocolate, to name a few.
“Being in Hawaiʻi, it’s really important to us to support local and build relationships within our community,” Mitchell says. “We love working with farms on island and learning how and where our ingredients are made. We try to use as many locally sourced vendors and ingredients as possible. We’re always open to partnering with more local businesses and creating new drink flavors.”
CONTACT
Kooks Coffee – Kakaʻako
575 Cooke St., Honolulu
Instagram: @kookscoffee
Open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays
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Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
