For The Love Of Coffee

Yesterday was the last day of service for «For the Love of Coffee». Today was a sad sad day… The office and elevators had murmurings of «what do we do now?» No one could quite comprehend that our office’s coffee shop was now closed.
For the Love of Coffee was that warm and friendly coffee joint… you’d always see the regulars there. Richard was warm, friendly, knew your order, smiles…
There’s a sign in the door about the closure. My coworker and I caught 2 people reading it. They were obviously not daily regulars (Monday afternoon they announced their Tuesday closure)… but obviously fans as you could sense their sadness for the closing of the shop.
I’ll miss you Richard and For the Love of Coffee!

Dear For The Love of Coffee,
Thank you for remembering my drink. I guess I could be labeled as a frequent customer or Regular Iced Thai. I’m always impressed when any coffee place remembers a customer’s drink. It’s pretty amazing. Today was the first day you remembered my drink, but I asked for another one. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to keep you on your toes. :) The Mocha Thai that you introduced me to was delish. Thank you! It started my morning with a wake up kick. I have a sweet tooth so Mocha and Thai mixed with some coffee, just perfect. Now, I’ll be either a Regular Iced Thai or a Regular Iced Mocha Thai. I’ll see you soon.
Yours Truly,
A.

«The best days to drink coffee are those that end in ‘Y’.» I totally could grab a cup and pull up a chair at this place every day of the week if I had the time.
When work deadlines aren’t holding me hostage in my office, I like to venture down to For the Love of Coffee for a medium vanilla latte (~$ 2.30) and pancakes with fresh fruit (~$ 3.00). The coffee and pancakes taste and are made fresh. At one point (and I’m not sure if they still provide this service), my coffee-​partner and I used to text message our coffee orders. Our coffee would be hot and ready upon arrival. Also, their daily coffee specials are always a treat and they have well-​stocked lunch menu too.
Time and life slow down just a little in this relatively small coffee shop in the heart of downtown, and we all need that break at some point, especially us Downtowners. So, do just that if you’re in the neighborhood — grab a cup, a pancake or 4, and pull up a chair. For the Love of Coffee can easily be the best part of waking up.

The definition of club could be a group that shares common interests such as baseball or music. Albeit, its a big club, but loving coffee is a club. You have to love coffee to understand how other people love coffee too, otherwise you may just seem weird. Seriously when I’m in that, «Oh man, need coffee, need coffee, need coffee» mood, I just have a few friends willing to go the distance for such a brew.
For the Love of Coffee is a little place where you can chat about coffee or the world. In general, For the Love of Coffee has all the amenities of a independent coffee shop… friendly service and a personal touch. After all, its the same person everyday who can suggest a new brew or taste based on your interests. Heck, same person, same family. His wife works there too and the young kid sometimes chills there as well. Indeed, one time I was there, another patron made a comment that the owner need to up the price of his coffee to include all the self-​help advice he gives. So it is what it is, a cozy coffee nook in TOPA tower.

Love the coffee of the day specials — nice little cozy atmosphere.

This is my favorite coffee place. I love coming here and seeing what the flavored coffee of the day is. The flavored coffees are always delicious but my favorite is chocolate!
And the service is great. The owner knows my name and my order. I love hearing «Good morning! Do you want to try [whatever the flavored coffee of the day is]?» I invariably say, «Sure.» And then he says, «Extra room, right?» There is always the perfect amount of room for cream.
Sometimes, I am having a rough day, or week, or I just want to treat myself to something small… So I’ll order their delicious pancakes. One day, I could not decide if I wanted banana pancakes or chocolate chip pancakes, so the owner helped me out and suggested I get one chocolate chip cake and one banana cake. That has been my pancake order ever since. I take it back to my office, turn on Jack Johnson’s «Banana Pancakes,» and for a few minutes, pretend like it’s the weekend now…

I get coffee here all the time — it’s good, they use eco-​cups, the owner is friendly, and they keep a little rolodex for your frequent buyer card by the register (very cute). It’s a nice coffee break experience, and a great reason to ditch the office for 15 minutes.

Awesome coffee shop… great coffee and tea’s. Love the sandwich’s.especially the fresh corned beef on Tuesday’s…very friendly staff. Lots of regular’s that seem to hang out there. They’re a little strange!

I came here for the first time several weeks ago at a co-worker’s recommendation for both breakfast and lunch.
Pancakes — $ 2.50 for plain, $ 3.00 for blueberries added. Delicious! Although, I have to say that the thick, country-​style syrup that they give with the pancakes is a little too sweet for my tastes. I prefer a thinner, less sweet syrup as the pancakes themselves are already sweet enough with what I presume to be vanilla extract or something similar.
Pesto Chicken Panini — delicious! The sandwich was only about $ 5, and everything was hot and fresh! Melty cheese, flavorful pesto, all white-​meat chicken. Perfect lunch!
OK OK, so I have not yet had the coffee. It’s definitely next on my things-​to-​order from this quaint little shop in Topa Financial Tower.

DELICIOUS coffee, GREAT atmosphere, AWESOME customer serivce.
i used to come here a lot more when i used to live on oahu. i even used to work in this very building. the best part of my work day when working in amfac (used to be called amfac before topa) was coming down to For the Love of Coffee to get my hazelnut mocha with skim milk and whip cream. the girls there were making my drink as soon as they saw me. its like they were psychic… or maybe they just had an excellent memory. and even tho most people in downtown are in such a rush, its just fun to hang out here.
now, richard, one of their customers owns the shop! when i come to oahu for work, i always stop by to get my hazelnut mocha. its my favorite place to go for coffee and they always get it just perfect. their menu is even bigger now than it was when i used to come here on a daily basis so thats even better! they have fresh sandwiches — i have tried the cuban, thats a winner!
see you next week richard!

I’m a little amused by folks who walk into a small coffee place like FTLOC and expect to have a café experience. This isn’t a fabled «third place» like Starbucks, where you go for the nirvana of sitting like a leach for hours using free wi-​fi while consuming one small cup of burnt corporate coffee. This is a grab-​and-​go place, a coffee cart without the cart. Other than Fort Street Bar and Grill, there isn’t a single food establishment in the Topa Tower that has ample seating (i.e., more than a few tables), so I think FTLOC deserves to be judged on the products it sells and the service provided rather than on the atmospherics and freebies.
Bottom line: their coffee is good. It’s strong because it’s authentic. The foodstuff could probably be improved (scones, not so good), but the name of the place is For the Love of Coffee, not For the Love of Coffee, Pastries, Pancakes, Sandwiches, Etc. Infinitum. Presumably they sell those things because one can’t survive selling coffee alone, and they should keep refining their non-​coffee skills so that the stuff that goes with their coffee tastes as good and authentic as their java.
And the service is always good. It’s not often you find a place where they understand that as a customer, you deserve to be treated well. This is one of those places.

Good coffee, but it’s a little strong for my taste

This little place is wonderful for a quick grab-​and-​go panini at lunchtime. For the Love of Coffee is located inside the building where I work, which makes it super convenient for me.
Their grilled paninis are delicious. The chicken pesto and the Cuban are my two faves. They use exactly the right kind of bread — the not too thick kind — which for me is important and is often done wrong at other places. These paninis are toasty, crunchy and flavorful. Yum.
The price is right too — my chicken pesto panini was only $ 4.50. Bargain! The guys who work here are super friendly, too!
If I have one gripe to air, it’s their packaging. I really wish they didn’t use styrofoam to-​go containers!

Coffee is a requirement for my daily functionality, and therefore I am more than happy to be surrounded by coffee shops (other than Starbucks) in downtown Honolulu.
For the Love of Coffee is neatly tucked away inside the lobby of the Topa Financial Center (entrances on Queen St. and Bishop St.). It’s a pretty small shop that can seat only 3 people (since that’s how many chairs they have, one of which is broken).
Oddly, what brought me here was their $ 2 pancakes, yes, you heard me, they make fresh pancakes. For 50 cents more you can add bananas, strawberries, or blueberries, I opted for bananas. To my amazement, they actually incorporate the bananas into the batter, not just slice it and place it on top of the pancakes. In the end, the pancakes were decent and I recommend their mocha java dark, black of course!
call/​text your orders ahead of time: 266‑0759
or e-​mail:

Their coffees taste pretty good. They always have daily specials that are pretty interesting to try. I mostly go for their yummy sandwiches (their chicken pesto is my fav) and for $ 4.50 it’s a pretty good deal. The workers are friendly and always smiling. There is a general seating area in the buiding rather than in the shop. No, they don’t take card, but a lot of the smaller downtown shops don’t.

Part 3 of my day-​long coffeeshop odyssey downtown in Honolulu.
Finally, a seating area with a plug. One plug. And I got it by snaking my cord behind some sweaty office guy.
This is still not a proper coffeeshop. It’s in… you guessed it… the base level of a downtown office high-​rise and it’s fairly bland and soulless – though the counter guy was a hilariously self-​aware dork. «Hungry?! Thirsty?! Yuk-​yuk-​yuk!!!»
The food looked sketchy – shrink-​wrapped sammies and a sparse offering of the usual dry scone crap.
Free wi-​fi requires a password, so be prepared to make a purchase (tea is $ 1.25) or feel like a freeloader.
Locator hint: you can enter this building from any side: Nimitz, Bishop, Fort St…
EDIT: The plug was not live! The search for a coffeeshop with electricity continues. Also, Richard, the owner and potentially the guy I called a dork (sorry! it really was a compliment…), messaged me to say the sandwiches are made fresh and that it is new ownership and working on the vibe. I guess the sammies I saw were premade. I will give it a second chance sometime if they get some electricity. Props to Unilocal-​reading owners.

Okey. So I took the day off and headed downtown. I have not been up this early and have not been downtown in the morning in quite some time. since my job moved to Waikiki… Anyhoo, I got my iphone out and urbanspooned «coffee.» After a few starbucks slotted by I came across a spot that piqued my interest. a quaint little spot named «For the Love of Coffee.» I am always down to try a new cup-​o-​joe… so off I went. upon entering the building I was immediately dissapointed. Common… whit a name like «For the Love of Coffee» I expected a «real» coffee shop experience. The sound of frothing milk bubbling and steam wands screeching throughout the room, the smell of roasted coffee floating through the air, the tale-​tale tank track like sound coming from the bean grinders, little piles of coffee grinds in the corners of the room, burnt wooden bar, posters on the walls — depicting coffee beans in every shape, size and perversion. Instead I got a perty sterile — cafeteria experience… it felt more like a ice cream cart that a coffee spot. Well, the place was OK… It was nice — it looked extra clean. After getting over my atmospheric disappointment I decided to order. My default… When having coffee at a place for the first time I always found the best way to test the quality of the coffee is to order a ice coffee. If the IC is great I may return to try and espresso… With my coffee in hand another strike occurred… No cards allowed… WTF? Your spot is in downtown and you don’t take cards? Lucky the ATM was right outside. As for the coffee… I don’t think I will ever return to this place. Maybe if I am in the building on other business I might stop by. But other than that I’ll prolly never return… The problem with iced coffee is the brewing and ice… if hot coffee is poured over ice it gets diluted… and thats what their coffee tasted like :(If U like coffee flavored water and a sterile coffee shop expreience — then this might be the spot for you…?

Nice little independent coffee place located in the Topa Tower directly behind the ATMs on the first floor. Coffee’s been good. Like the first reviewer I love that you can do the «green» coffee thing; bring in your own mug and get a discount on all their drinks. Be a bit careful though, they have to estimate which size your mug corresponds to. I’ve been charged two different prices for the same latte in the same cup (but different baristas on different days).
I like that it’s an alternative to the chain coffee places in downtown. They also have a frequent drinker card. 9 drinks and the 10^th is free.
They seem to only run one shift: so it’s 6am to 4pm M-​Tr, 6 till 2 on Friday. So if you want that late afternoon latte on friday, better get over there early.
Overall, definitely recommended.