On Sipping Kona Coffee - Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii

TZ and I went venturing to Tropicana City Mall last night for dinner when we came across this new place called "Bad Ass Coffee". We saw the poster when we were there much earlier, and well, truth be told, like many others, the first thing that came into our mind was, "What the heck? Of all the names they can pick, they actually picked such a 'nice' name?" And considering we were pretty much Starbucks and Coffee Bean guys, we seldom hit other coffee shops, especially those of local origins, Old Town Kopitiam and what nots. But Bad Ass Coffee didn't really appeal to us either.

Anyways, I didn't really know what got into us that evening. We were just walking around the mall as we had some time to kill. It was a coincidence then that we actually walked towards the far end of the mall where this specially-named shop was located. Many would've missed it if they just walked around aimlessly since not all the shops in the mall are in operation. Guess it was pretty much a coincidence that Mr. Suki Phang, the developmental director of Bad Ass Coffee was in, and he walked out to greet us while we were looking at the menu outside the shop.

"Come on in. We serve the best coffee in town. I'm not kidding you. If you want coffee, we're the Rolls Royce. Our beans are fully imported from Hawaii not some cheap beans like most other coffee shops. We also got some bites if you want to eat."

We didn't go in straight away because Starbucks was in our minds, so we politely turned down the offer and walked away. Maybe we were destined to start our journey to become the first degree family of the Bad-ass (as how the barrista put it), we walked into Starbucks with all the couches occupied. With the itch to try out the Rolls Royce of coffee, we finally headed back to the Bad Ass Coffee. Still give me the giggle when I read the name.

Mr. Suki was surprised to see us back so soon. He was grining like the Cheshire Cat. Guessed he managed to change the minds of 2 more potential customers that night. He gave us a brief introduction of the coffee they had in store. There were 7 signature lattes in store; Bad Ass Mocha if you're looking for some chocolate flavour; or Jitter Juice if you're into some tinge of Irish Cream; but if you're a fan of Snicker bar, go for Snickerlicious; or there's the Monkey Mocha if you wanna have some banana flavour. The lattes come in hot, iced or ice-blended. But what makes it the best from the rest, the ice used in the ice lattes are coffee flavoured, in the sense that, as the ice melts, there'd be more coffee aroma. And their ice-blended was near to the texture of ice-cream.

I had Bad Ass Mocha while TZ ordered Jitter Juice. On my first sip, the only word I could think of was, "smooth". Odd description I know. I'm not really that great in finding adjectives to describe food anyways. But I gotta agree with Mr. Suki, this Bad Ass Coffee is some kick ass stuff! I thought it tasted almost the same than that of Starbucks when TZ reminded me that it's not as sweet, which brings out the coffee aroma. Couldn't agree more to that.

As how we were enlightened, as the ice melts, the taste got stronger and stronger. The ice cubes were literally dark brownish. Smooth! I just couldn't help it but to finish up till the last ice cubes.

Mr. Suki also gave us a small cup of ice-blended latte for sample while we were there. True enough, it's as soft as ice cream! I was amazed so to speak. As much as I'm a fan of Coffee Bean's ice-blended, Bad Ass'es is even more of a good stuff! We were told that they spent quite a lot on the special machine for the ice blended beverage, that's why the end product is so special.

We didn't get any bites that evening, but we'll definitely go back to the shop for another shot again. Who knows, since both of us are pretty enticed by the ox tail soup in the menu, maybe some dinner there next time.

The ambience might not be as classy compared to their counterparts, i.e. the ones we used to go to. There were some fake coconut tree and the counter was decorated into some hut-like structure. Gives you some Hawaiian feel so to speak. But considering it's not as noisy and crowded as the other franchise, I like it very much. I guess more and more people would visit it when Bad Ass Coffee managed to change the mindset of the public, but in the meantime, I suppose we've found a new hangout place for coffee!

Little did we know that, the bikini-clad poster we saw in the basement would turn out to be some good stuff. Rolls Royce of all the coffee in town indeed!

"The native people of Kona, Hawaii remember the days of the "bad ass ones." The bellows of the donkeys could be heard echoing through the mountains as they hauled the heavy loads of coffee up and down the mountainside. In honor of these hard working donkeys, we name our coffee company. The legend of the Kona Nightingale lives on right here at Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii."

Still, I gotta say that's some odd name to name a coffee brand.

So, who's in for 100% Kona coffee?



Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii
GF, Tropicana City Mall