Located in Windward Oʻahu, The Well Kailua just started its summer menu. According to business owner Courtney Spurzem, the seasonal drinks will be available throughout the summer until August.
The seasonal drinks offer a mix of coffee-based and matcha options. The Island matcha is a returning favorite that was popular when the café opened last September, according to Spurzem.
“We had the Island matcha when we first opened,” Spurzem says. “We wanted to bring that back, but do it a little bit differently. Instead of an ube syrup base, this time, we’re going to do an ube cold foam.”
The Island matcha features a vanilla matcha base, ube cold foam and coconut shavings on top. The café’s mango sticky rice matcha ($9) is another seasonal special. The coconut-sweetened matcha is topped with a mango sticky cold foam and coconut shavings.
“I know mango sticky rice is big, in general, in Hawaiʻi, and there’s a lot of drinks inspired by that,” Spurzem says. “I thought doing a mango sticky rice matcha would be a really cool addition to our menu.”
For coffee lovers, seasonal options include the sparkling Americano ($7) — a double shot of espresso poured over sparkling water, topped with a coffee cold foam and orange zest — and tiramisu latte ($8). The latter features an espresso shot poured over brown sugar, and is topped with coffee cold foam, mocha powder and a ladyfinger pastry for dipping.
Spurzem says she recently tried a tiramisu latte and liked it, and was inspired to bring one to The Well Kailua.
“We do have a lot of sweet drinks, but I wanted to add some that are a little bit more on the coffee-heavy side,” she says.
Other summer specials include the lavender lemonade ($7) and PCA affogato ($8), which is a collaboration with Kailua-based ice cream shop Please Come Again.
Customers can still enjoy popular options like the Lanikai latte ($9) and banana bread latte ($8). The Lanikai latte — brown sugar espresso shot, hazelnut and housemade banana syrup, blue hazelnut and marshmallow cold foam and a crushed Biscoff topping — is inspired by Lanikai Beach, according to Spurzem, who says the drink was originally a spring special that became popular.
“It has a hazelnut syrup mixed with a butterfly pea tea for the color; there’s no artificial colors in it,” she says. “It’s topped with a marshmallow cold foam and Biscoff crumbles, so it looks like a wave and sand.”
Meanwhile, the banana bread latte continues to be a bestseller. It features housemade banana, vanilla and maple syrup, a double shot of espresso poured over brown sugar, whole milk and a sweet cream cold foam topped with cinnamon.
“Our banana bread latte is what we’re most known for; 50% of our sales are banana bread lattes,” Spurzem says. “We also have a strawberries and cream matcha that’s really popular.”
While The Well Kailua will make its one-year anniversary in September, the business already has plans to open another location early next year.
“We’re going to open a place near the Manoa area,” Spurzem confirms.
“It’s (The Well’s) kind of a gathering place,” she adds. “I previously was an interior designer, and ‘The Well Designs’ was the name of my company. When I transitioned to this, I thought it was a really good name. For centuries, people have been gathering at the well to get their water. I thought it was a really cool name to be ‘the gathering place.’”
Customer parking is available in the lot behind the shop; street parking is also available.
CONTACT
The Well Kailua
270 Kuulei Road Unit 103, Kailua
thewellkailua.com/
Instagram: @thewellkailua
Open daily, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Customer parking available in lot in back of the shop; street parking also available
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Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
