Meet Mahina Akimoto. She’s the young coffee guru in Manoa Valley transforming coffee palates one cup at a time. As the general manager of Morning Glass Coffee + Café, a small coffee shop in Manoa, she and her team are responsible for sparking interest in craft coffee in Hawaii’s coffee scene.
Five years ago, with general management experience under her belt, Mahina found a job opening on Craigslist for a new coffee shop in Manoa Valley. She was in Los Angeles at the time, having just moved from San Francisco where she went to school and pursued a degree in English and Environmental Sciences. She also managed a small coffee shop in the city serving “nothing remotely close to craft [coffee].” Mahina applied to the position in Hawai’i intending to move back home, develop her skills, and get her feet off the ground.
Resistance to Novelty
Morning Glass Storefront
When Eric Rose, the owner of Morning Glass Coffee + Café, proposed the idea of opening a coffee shop in Manoa, serving made-to-order food and ethically-sourced, well-prepared pour overs, people told him it couldn’t be done. People hate to wait. We live in a fast food culture. Manoa is an older and established community. If you don’t have two blended ice drinks, it’s not going to work. Eric took the chance anyway, and hired Mahina to lead the charge.
Heading the vanguard, Mahina explains how Morning Glass’ success stems from a commitment to serve quality coffee, although rarely anyone else was doing the same.
I think it’s because we try to keep it real, for a lack of a better phrase. We’re not going to make everyone happy. Not everyone is going to like us. And we’re okay with that. And I think that’s what makes us successful, by staying true to ourselves. We created something better than if we tried to please everybody. And customers appreciate that.
Approachable Coffee
She also debunks the idea that craft coffee would not sell because people wouldn’t want it. “It’s funny because we see older aunties and uncles who came in and were like, ‘I don’t know the difference between the Guatemalan and the Costa Rican.’” Years later, the same aunties and uncles come in and tell her what they like and don’t like about one roast and are curious enough to try the other.
Mahina in the kitchen preparing for the next day
Although they brew specialty coffee using the Clever Coffee Dripper (or Clover Cones), Morning Glass is far from being a “hipster” café. Its atmosphere is less coffee shop and more residential Manoa garage—old, homey, and real. Situated on the corner of a small building in the middle of Manoa, chickens roam around the outside and it’s crowded inside because they’re always busy.
The café is neither spacious nor minimalist. It has metal roll-down security shutters, paneled walls that don’t match the coffee counter, and a bookshelf with cookbooks piled all hamajang. Music from the 1980’s is playing on the radio today. The storefront is nondescript; their staff, genuine; and their coffee, approachable. It’s the perfect recipe for making coffee more accessible to people who aren’t coffee enthusiasts or aficionados…yet. “A place like this, with a little more home-grown feeling to it attracts people, and I think we’ve never been snobs about it.”
By ditching all pretense, Mahina and company make craft coffee accessible to people. But it’s not like she has to work at not being snobby. She’s humble and easy-going, down-to-earth and personable. She is excited when older customers, “who drank Folgers every day for thirty years”, buy clover cones and specialty roasted coffee, such as Coava, from her store, and show interest in how to make it like she does. “By making coffee more approachable, people are able to appreciate it more.”
Morning Glass Menu
I appreciate a lot of what goes on in the coffee community here. I really do. I appreciate how much time and effort people put into making craft coffee accessible to people. But I also see that sometimes in the way it’s presented, it’s made accessible only to a small group of people. Not necessarily to the community as a whole.
Mahina doesn’t want people to be intimidated by craft coffee. The philosophy she conveys to her staff is that, “you should be informed enough that if someone wants to come in and talk about coffee, you can, but also being able to pare it back for someone who normally drinks Starbucks. We don’t have to be snobs about it. People respond to it better: us just being approachable, than just snobs about it.”
Morning Glass Coffee + Café isn’t trying to be the antithesis of Starbucks. Afterall, Eric Rose worked at Starbucks in Seattle before it turned into the conglomerate it is now. However, with the ongoing success—and the vast differences in their approaches to coffee—Mahina posits that perhaps they are the antithesis because people keep coming back. “I think people like [our approach to coffee]. Starbucks is right there.” She points across the street to where Starbucks is located. “Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is right there.” She points further down the road. “But people will wait in line. They will wait for a latte.”
And Mahina ensures that every customer’s wait is worth it. “Every single cup of coffee that we put out, there [is] care and focus and intention behind it.” She tells her staff that if they don’t feel good about a particular cup of coffee they make, then they should dump it rather than serve it. She reminds them that everything they serve, whether as barista or chef, should be something they’re proud to have made. That type of thinking encourages her staff to examine the quality of work they bring to the table.
Empowering Staff Here and in Japan
With many people around the table, it is necessary for Mahina to cultivate a friendly atmosphere among the staff. She brings about a desire to learn, to produce a quality product, and to nurture an enjoyable experience for the customer. The relational dynamics of her staff is very much a team-family environment. The vibe is warm, and everybody seems happy. “Our approach is: be yourself. We want people who are weird, and have something different to bring to the table. Everyone is totally different. It’s very much a dysfunctional family. But it works. It’s great. Everybody wants to be here. People want to come in. They can see [our] vision and want to be a part of that. Not because it’s cool. We’re not cool. Trust me.”
But being different and being true to yourself is not the only thing she encourages of her staff. She and Eric also encourage everyone to be better at what they do. This attitude has kept the food and coffee as good as it has been five years later. “It’s still good. But it can be better.”
Morning Glass is committed to serving fresh food and coffee. They never serve anything older than ten days.
Having opened a new store in Osaka, Japan earlier this year, she describes her experience working with a different culture, and a different staff. “It’s totally different, but it has the same feeling of home and same kind of warmth there.” She attests, “Japanese people in general have a lot less ego. It’s much more for the greater good of the company. We’ve seen them learn really fast and pick things up really fast. It’s insane how hard they work.”
When she went to Japan to train the staff and help with the grand opening, she remembers the staff’s response to meeting her. “Coming into Japan as a moderately tattooed person, woman, and [with] a Japanese last name, they were like, ‘Woah, this does not compute.'”
For a lot of the girls who work in their Japan location, seeing a strong female leader is foreign to them. Mahina sees the egalitarian gap between the American and Japanese cultures, and helps to empower women there by showing them they are capable of taking on leadership roles. “In the States you’re taught you can do anything, you’re just as valuable as any male counterpart, and then to see this culture where they have women-only trains…it’s strange. I like to think we made a positive impact in that sense with all the girls we hired.”
She empowers her staff by making them feel good about learning, and assuring them it’s okay to make mistakes because it’s a way to grow. “I hope it makes a positive impact on them—to be working for a company like us, and to feel appreciated, and that they can be themselves, and not fit into this role they’ve been conditioned to fill.”
Using Clover Cones
Locals and tourists alike stop by Morning Glass to get a cup of coffee or something fresh off their menu.
And fitting into predetermined roles is not something Mahina is interested in. When it comes to her staff, she wants them to feel comfortable in their own skin. When it comes to coffee, Morning Glass Coffee + Café doesn’t drip brew their coffee en masse. But then again, they also don’t brew using vacuum-press technology. Every cup of coffee is made to order, and they serve everything fresh.
In order to maintain craftsmanship, they use clover cones to brew their coffee, which is not a common method used in Hawai’i. Most coffee shops have drip coffee, French press, or even pour overs. Clover Cones aren’t novel or the newest technology, but can be compared to a French press with a filter. “Eric chose clover cones because they’re a little more forgiving. And we really like immersion. We landed on this technique, which produces a really great cup and is a little more fool proof. But you can still make a bad cup of coffee.”
It’s not the most scientific, nerdiest way to prepare coffee, but it’s simple and approachable. It’s a great way to make a good brew that doesn’t take too long and isn’t technical, yet still brings out the richness and flavor of each coffee they serve.
And Morning Glass Coffee + Café is a lot like the clover cones they use. When it comes to knowing coffee, their staff is scientific, but not too nerdy. The café layout is like a restaurant, but more so homey. The coffee comes from reputable roasters, but they aren’t promoted obnoxiously. They haven’t been around for too long, but their immersion into the coffee community has made the scene far richer. (And since they began, the scene has grown tremendously.)
You can be sure Mahina will continue to spearhead the effort in making specialty coffee more approachable and accessible to people.
Morning Glass Coffee + Café // Locations
Manoa: 2955 E Manoa Rd, Honolulu, HI 96822 // (808) 673-0065
Kaka’ako: 307c Kamani St. (Located inside Fishcake) // (808) 366-1525
Osaka, Japan: 3-2-14 Azuchimachi, Chuo-ku Osaka-City, Osaka. Japan. 541-0052 // Tel. 06-6484-7002
