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A large café with Art Deco lights and a plantation feel in their seating area, you enter from the side inside the historic Hata building rather than in front. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they serve coffee from Hilo Coffee Mill. For espresso, they use a shiny old two-group Astoria at the bar and a Kona espresso blend. Served to the rim as an extra-large pour with a lemon rind puzzlingly on the side. It has a scant crema that makes it look more like drip filter coffee, and it has a slightly ashy aroma. It has a sharp taste - bright but without a fruity acidity. Some walnuts and even toast in the flavor. But what should be a super-thin body from the size of the pour actually manages to have some residual mouthfeel or gravity - it leaves a slight coat on the tongue in its aftertaste. Like a good filter coffee with an extra heft to it. But that's not good enough for espresso.
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