
Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii will open this month at 2466 Mandeville Lane in Carlyle.
The location in the Hoffman Town Center is the first of three that owners Michelle and Richard Lee plan to open across Northern Virginia over the next three years.
“Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii was a great fit for us for multiple reasons,” Michelle Lee said in a press release. “We were initially attracted to the company culture, community giveback efforts, and meaningful story behind the name. We spent three months doing research to ensure this was the right business decision for us. After trying the product, we flew out to meet the CEO and other team members. That trip was so encouraging and solidified that this was absolutely the right move for us.”
The location was originally scheduled to open in the summer of 2022. The company doesn’t say exactly what day in March the shop will open and its phone number is disconnected. Still, when it does open guests will get their first taste of coffee for free by joining a rewards program.
The company was founded in 1989 in Hawaii “with a goal of sharing American-grown, premium Hawaiian coffee from Kauai, Waialua (Oahu), Maui, and 100% Kona coffee with coffee lovers everywhere,” according to its website. It was sold in 1995 and there are now two dozen franchises around the world, with the nearest to Alexandria being in Virginia Beach.
“We’ve heard for years, from our fans visiting our longstanding Virginia Beach location while on vacation, that they’d love a Bad Ass Coffee to enjoy every day in northern Virginia, and at long last, we’re thrilled to say Aloha to Alexandria,” said Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii CEO Scott Snyder.
What’s with the name? According to Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii:
In addition to premium coffee from the famous Kona region of the Big Island, Bad Ass Coffee also sources from Kauai and Maui. Its name pays tribute to a very important animal in Hawaiian coffee history: The Donkey. Legend has it that for generations, donkeys could be heard bellowing as they carried precious loads of coffee beans down the steep mountains of the Big Island. The people of Kona named these hard-working donkeys the “Bad Ass Ones” because of their reliably strong, but stubborn nature in carrying their precious cargo.
Photo via Facebook
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