Talk Kaimuki

Talk Kaimuki sits at the Waialae and 12th Avenue intersection, in the 3,600-square-foot space that Liz Schwartz opened as Coffee Talk in 1995 and rebuilt during the pandemic into the current dual-program room. Coffee runs by day. Cocktails run Thursday through Sunday nights. Coffee is Sumatran-forward, dark and full, and the house Haupia Latte uses coconut milk in a way that has earned regular orders for years. Pastries are the second program: butter mochi, almond croissants, the Kaimuki standards. By 4pm the room flips. The cocktail list runs twelve originals on the first page. The crowd shifts from laptops and parents to neighbors on a date. It is one of the few rooms in Honolulu that holds two distinct moods on the same lease. Order the Haupia Latte and a butter mochi if you came at 9am. Order an espresso martini after 7pm if you came at the other end of the day.