Well Day 4 of my coffee trek through this beautiful city and I stumble upon a place called Hula Girls Espresso Boutique. Noticed they use a lot of Kona (not the $40 dollar a pound type) but was quite interested in the coffee. I asked the girl behind the cash a couple of question about the coffee and she was unsure what comprised the other 23% of their blends.
At first it reminded me of this juice bar by my house in New York where they have this sign that says their drinks contain 90% real juice. if you are going to blend your coffee inform your staff. Kona is somewhat of a bandwagon coffee nowadays where everyone on the kona strip pretty much grows there coffee to sell via the label Kona Fancy. BS.
I ask for a shot of espresso and they pull out this fancy bag of Ruffino Super BAR. I kind of paused and wanted to reconsider because I had a shot of the same espresso at a "I will not mention the name" cafe and it tasted like dirty wet socks (lost a bet once). However, I am a second chance kinda of guy where I believe the barista plays an integral part of the shot making process.
The shot was sort of OK didn't finish it but it was tolerable. M know on this place was the lack of knowledge about the products they sell. The pastry case was rammed which saved them a star but it looked the the same pastries that I see in almost all the coffee shops (come on Toronto!! be a little more creative when it comes to your cafe food). Overall the place was a nice looking bar but thats about it.
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