Hawaii’s Daylight Mind Expands into Second Location

Daylight Mind Waikoloa. All photos courtesy of Daylight Mind Coffee Company.

Hawaii-based roaster, café and restaurant company Daylight Mind Coffee Company recently opened its second location in Waikoloa, located an approximate 45-minute drive north along the Big Island’s Western coast from the Daylight Mind flagship in Kailua-Kona.

Between the new shop and the release of his new book, “The Little Coffee Know-It-All Book,” Daylight Mind co-owner Shawn Steiman — one of three partners with an ownership stake in the venture — told Daily Coffee News he’s been keeping “extremely busy,” something that’s likely not to change anytime soon as tourist season gets into full swing.

While both of Daylight Mind’s retail locations — which double as serious coffee bars and full-service restaurants from morning through night — receive ample foot traffic from tourists to the island, the newer shop is in some ways a scaled down version of the original. It occupies 3,000 square feet with outdoor seating near the entrance of Queens’ Marketplace, which comprises a collection of boutiques, galleries and eateries for nearby resort-goers.

Within a less voluminous retail landscape than that surrounding the Kona shop, Steiman said the Waikoloa location is in direct competition with a nearby Starbucks, hoping to attract people more interested in quality-crafted local products. “There are people who are always looking for alternatives,” Steiman said of the positioning as a local player, where responsible farm-to-cup and farm-to-table sourcing are part of DM’s strategy in coffee and in food, respectively. “And we work on the hotels and the concierges to let them know we are an alternative.”

The espresso program at the new shop hinges on a La Marzocco GB5 machine, while the rest of the coffee program largely mirrors that of the flagship, including a range of single-farm and blended coffees available as espresso and brewed in Chemexes, Handy Brew immersion brewers or over ice.

While the new location doesn’t have as much open event space for classes and training as the flagship roastery and headquarters, the Waikoloa location will include public cuppings twice per week, something that also likely differentiates it from the local Starbucks. Said Steiman, “We also have a really great restaurant for three meals a day, so that really sets us apart also.”