With beans grown on Maui, the owners of Akamai Coffee Company, Kimberly and Byron Brown, have perfected the cup of coffee from start to finish. In business since 2007, with a drive-thru in Kahului adjacent to Home Depot, the Browns have also opened fashionable Kihei and Wailea cafes. As Akamai dealt with the Covid-19 global impact, they realized the importance of being creative to make the business work through this challenging time. The drive-thru Kahului and Kihei locations with grab-and-go choices were a big help. Once allowed to reopen, they were ready to resume in-person business, with Covid restrictions.

“We have been blessed,” said Sarah Strubhar, Akamai store manager. “We are so grateful for our customers and we work hard to offer them a great product. Akamai coffee beans are 100-percent locally grown on the West Side in Kaanapali. From the farm, our beans go to a private upcountry roaster in Haiku. The brewed coffee, americanos, lattes, frappes, mocha, seasonal roasts, and more, are all local flavors. We roast two to three times a week so everything we make is super fresh. Roasting is an essential part of the seed-to-serving process to get the finest tasting coffee into your cup. The roasters at Akamai have spent countless hours fine-tuning the Maui coffees to get the highest quality flavor notes and profiles in each and every batch.”

The high caffeine content in Akamai coffee is due to the way they roast. Their medium roasting technique ensures the natural caffeine is not burned off. “Once the beans come to us, we make sure everything works to perfection,” Strubhar noted. “Plus, because great coffee starts with good water; we use a filtration system at each location.”

The food menu at Akamai also consists of local Maui ingredients. With their pastries and other dishes, such as avocado toast, and their specialized coffees including Maui Peaberry, Maui Mokka, Makawao Avenue Roast, Yellow Brick Road Roast and their Akamai Signature Roast, customers are returning daily. Strubhar emphasized, “Our goal is to provide the best we can for our clientele. It is time for Made on Maui to shine!”