Overview
TRY Coffee is a specialty coffee café in Ward Centre/Ward Village, on the second floor inside BoxJelly coworking space. For a traveler, it stands out less as a generic grab-and-go stop and more as a coffee nerd destination: the shop emphasizes rotating international roasters, pour-overs, and a quieter work-friendly setting. (try.coffee)
The place appears to be operational and reasonably established, with strong Google ratings and a clear identity around specialty coffee rather than breakfast or full-service dining. One small caveat: the address is slightly inconsistent across sources, with Google Places giving Honolulu 96814 while the website also shows a 96816 variant in one spot; the street address and floor match, so this looks like postal drift rather than a different business. (try.coffee)
Cuisine & Specialties
TRY Coffee’s lane is specialty coffee first, with espresso drinks, manual brews, cold brew, tea, and matcha. The signature idea is variety: the shop says it features a new international roaster every month and maintains a coffee archive of past roasters, which points to a tasting-oriented model rather than a fixed house blend café. (try.coffee)
- Overall menu style: specialty coffee bar with rotating guest roasters, espresso drinks, manual brew, cold brew, tea, and matcha. (try.coffee)
- Notable specialties: espresso, cortado, cappuccino, latte, mocha, manual brew, cold brew, matcha “Meiko” tea, matcha tea latte, and tea service in Hawaiʻi-grown and international options. (try.coffee)
- Rotating-coffee focus: the coffee archive shows previous roasters such as SEY Coffee, Felix Kaffee, and Manhattan Coffee Roasters, and older posts highlight single coffees and limited selections rather than a static menu. (try.coffee)
- Price range / spend expectation: broadly moderate for specialty coffee; Google’s place data has no price level, but the published menu suggests about $3.50 for espresso and roughly $4.00–$6.00 for most espresso, brewed coffee, tea, and matcha drinks, with some limited-edition coffee offerings priced higher. (try.coffee)
- Dietary usefulness / limitations: milk alternatives are explicitly mentioned for the matcha latte, and the menu appears naturally adaptable for dairy-free coffee drinks; there is not enough evidence here to claim broad food or vegan-meal coverage beyond drinks. (try.coffee)
Notable Features & Ambiance
The physical setting is part café, part coworking-adjacent hangout. Official site copy places it on the second floor of Ward Centre inside BoxJelly, with parking on upper garage levels and a bridgeway connection, so the experience is shaped as much by the building and shared workspace as by the coffee bar itself. (try.coffee)
- Service model and seating style: counter-service café embedded in BoxJelly; visitor-facing descriptions repeatedly emphasize working, reading, and lingering rather than table service. (tryperdiem.com)
- Atmosphere and decor: bright, quiet, and intentionally low-key according to review summaries; official imagery and site copy suggest a small, design-conscious specialty café rather than a large restaurant. (tryperdiem.com)
- Practical features: parking is available in the Ward Centre garage, and the website says floors 3–7 are used for parking with bridge access. (try.coffee)
- Best fit: a coffee stop, remote-work session, study break, or specialty-coffee tasting visit. (tryperdiem.com)
- Weaker fit: travelers wanting a full breakfast, a fast in-and-out chain-style experience, or lots of food options may find it too narrow in scope. This is an inference from the menu and the coworking-oriented setup. (try.coffee)
History & Background
The clearest background signal is that owner Timothy “TK” Yamada spent over a decade honing roasting skills at some of Hawaiʻi’s biggest coffee brands before starting TRY Coffee. Ward Village’s listing frames the shop as a specialty operation built around a revolving global coffee program and locally sourced beans, which gives it more of a roaster-curator identity than a standard neighborhood café. (wardvillage.com)
Review Sentiment Snapshot
What People Love
Reviews and summary sources consistently praise the coffee quality, the baristas’ knowledge, and the quiet work-friendly space. Recurring positives include good pour-overs, well-made espresso drinks, friendly service, and a setting that feels spacious and calm enough for work or reading. Some reviewers specifically like the rotating bean selection and the chance to try coffees from different roasters. (tryperdiem.com)
Common Gripes
The main downside signal is not about the coffee itself so much as the setting and fit: the shop can feel limited if you want a full meal, and access to the coworking space varies by day. Some secondary review summaries suggest the indoor area can feel chilly, and one matcha complaint appears in a single review stream, but that negative signal is not broad enough to treat as a settled pattern. Overall, the downside evidence is mixed and lighter than the praise. (wanderlog.com)
Practical Visitor Tips
- Hours on the official site and Google Places align closely: weekdays 6:30am–1:00pm, weekends 7:00am–3:00pm. (try.coffee)
- It is best treated as a walk-in café; no reservation posture is evident from the sources. (try.coffee)
- Parking is in the Ward Centre garage, with bridge access from upper levels; this matters because the café is on the second floor inside BoxJelly rather than street level. (try.coffee)
- If you care most about coffee variety, ask what roaster or single-origin is on the bar that day; the whole concept is built around rotating selections. (try.coffee)
- Best for a calm morning coffee or work session; less ideal if you need a broad brunch menu or a quick roadside-style stop. This is an inference from the menu and space description. (try.coffee)
Verification Notes
- Official identity anchor aligns on TRY Coffee at 1200 Ala Moana Blvd., 2nd Floor / Ste. 380, Honolulu. Google Places uses 96814; the website shows both 96816 and 96814 on different lines, suggesting postal/formatting drift rather than a different location. (try.coffee)
- No phone number was found in the Google Places data or official website pages reviewed. (try.coffee)
- Business appears operational; hours on the website and Google Places are consistent. (try.coffee)
- No major verification issues found. (try.coffee)
Sources
- TRY Coffee official home page —
https://try.coffee/— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Best for location, hours, BoxJelly/Ward Centre placement, parking notes, and official identity. - TRY Coffee official menu —
https://try.coffee/MENU— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Best for menu categories, drink prices, tea/matcha offerings, and milk-alternative mention. - Ward Village listing for TRY Coffee @BoxJelly —
https://www.wardvillage.com/dining/coffee-desserts/try-coffee-boxjelly/— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Best for ownership background, the TK Yamada story, and parking confirmation. - TRY Coffee roaster archive —
https://try.coffee/Roaster-Archive-1— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Best for evidence of rotating guest roasters and the specialty coffee curation model. - TRY Coffee “Try Cycle” page —
https://try.coffee/TRYCYCLE— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Best for showing the brand’s education/curation emphasis and subscription-based coffee exploration concept. - TRY Coffee “Fanciful” archive page —
https://try.coffee/OLDIES-FANCIFUL— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Best for showing higher-end experimental coffee offerings and examples of limited coffee pricing. - Try Per Diem review summary —
https://www.tryperdiem.com/review/try-coffee---honolulu— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Best for traveler-oriented summary of atmosphere, service, and work-friendly feel; used cautiously as a secondary synthesis. - MapQuest place page —
https://www.mapquest.com/us/hawaii/try-coffee-429154817— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Best for a secondary address/status cross-check and limited review snippets, including one mixed matcha comment. - Wanderlog place page —
https://app.wanderlog.com/place/details/1515802/try-coffee— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Best for additional traveler-facing summary of the rotating roaster concept and work-friendly seating.
