It’s no secret that I have a love for coffee, so for someone like me the chance to check out Wellington cafes when the opportunity arises, is a no brainer. Earlier this week I had the chance to take that opportunity properly for the first time while looking after Dan Bremnes during part of his Aotearoa New Zealand tour.
Wellington is well known for its coffee scene and is the home of some Aotearoa’s best cafes. A visit isn’t complete without checking out some of the city’s finest. Most of them are within walking distance of each other so it’s an easy tour to do.
In no particular order here are the Wellington cafes we visited and links for more details. There are plenty of great ones that aren’t listed here but there’s only so much coffee a man can drink in a day without it turning into a dangerous extreme sport. If there are other Wellington cafes you would like to recommend to readers, feel free to promote your favourite spot with a comment.
Red Rabbit
This is one of the newer places in town and came recommended by the barista at Customs, and the guy who served me my breakfast eggs and coffee at the Hangar. Two recommendations from great cafes made Red Rabbit a must visit.
Steve Barret set up Red Rabbit and it follows what I think will become the new trend, small places roasting their own beans rather than relying on the bigger suppliers. We saw a couple of small places doing this. At Red Rabbit you can spot the roaster down by the back wall.
I had been told the flat white was worth a try there and so that’s what I had and wasn’t disappointed. I like places that go with less milk than your average cafe, in order to let the coffee sing rather than masking the taste. I wasn’t disappointed. It was velvety, chocolatey and I enjoyed some malt tones in it.
One of the beauties of Red Rabbit is the partnership with the small artisan bakery next door. The hole in the wall between the two means that Red Rabbit has a constant supply of bakery goodies to couple with your coffee or take away. It’s an exercise in beautiful minimalism with a focus on truly showcasing the coffee. It won’t disappoint.
For a fuller write up on Red Rabbit, check out the review at Sprudge.com
Customs is the flagship Wellington location for Aotearoa’s wonderful Coffee Supreme. Coffee Supreme supply some of Aotearoa’s best beans to various cafes around the country but they’ve got some flagship stores that are designed to truly showcase what they have to offer, and they’re well worth checking out. Customs Brew Bar is no exception.
Customs has a unique retro style to it and feels extremely welcoming as soon as you step in. It’s small and again, it’s all about the coffee. The baristas are friendly and helpful and there’s a changing menu to pick from with a couple of options for the flat white. I went with the Brazil blend, because I like the depth of strong chocolate notes. It was one of the best flat white’s I’ve had.
Customs is a place where I could spend a lot of time and if my tolerance for caffeine was really high, I’d work my way through their single origins using different brew methods and enjoy the education along the way. Customs is just a hop, skip and a jump from Red Rabbit.
The Hangar is where you can experience Flight Coffee in all it’s glory. It’s one of the newer ones on the scene of Wellington cafes and has hit the ground running. Since it comes from the same people who brought you the Memphis Belle Coffee House (an award winning Wellington cafe) you know it’s got to be good and The Hangar lives up to the reputation of its founders.
Stepping into the Hangar is like stepping into a bit of coffee nirvana. As you step into the door you’re greeted with coffee gadgets for sale to your right – different brewing mechanisms, mugs etc etc. I love that stuff. At the counter there’s a cold brewing method in action, lines of bags of fresh beans, different methods being showcased and of course, the buzzy new espresso machine – the Slayer. It’s very clear that this is the playground of some serious coffee geeks.
One of the nice touches is a blackboard on the back wall that sits under their menu board of ever changing coffee varieties. The little blackboard shows coffees that have been purchased but not consumed because they’ve been purchased for people who may be struggling financially. The visible tally of available free coffees is quite high. I’m not sure how well it’s used so I’m keen for a conversation with the team at The Hangar about how that could be well used to connect to Wellington’s marginalised.
I went with a single origin Sidama from Ethiopia done using a pour over method, which I enjoyed. It was light, clean and had good hints of citrus. Dan, who was with me, raved about a $6.50 flat white he’d consumed there the day before. I was a little startled when I first heard that price but they’ve also got a standard-priced flat white available. The $6.50 version is aiming to be exceptional. It wasn’t available when I went in though, because the baristas had been tasting it and felt like the taste wasn’t holding up at the end of the day before. Hearing that was comforting as it demonstrated that these guys were serious and were keen to make sure that, at that price, it was certain to be a great experience. Sadly, I missed out and am yet to try it. If you are able to give it a go, leave a comment to let me know what you think of it.
I should also note too, that a friend grabbed some beans from The Hangar for me so I could make a coffee in my motel room on the mornings of the tour I was doing with Dan. They’re good so I’d recommend Flight Coffee’s Bomber Blend for a good morning espresso.
Lamason Brew Bar
Lamason Brew Bar was set up by Dave Lamason, brother of Matt Lamason. Both are of Peoples Coffee fame. I’ll talk more about Peoples Coffee in my look at another cafe, but I need to say that Peoples is one of the suppliers I have an affinity with.
Lamason Brew Bar offers and specialises in the siphon brewing method and if you want to impress your friends, sitting at the bar with the siphons in front of you while chatting with the genius at work is a sure fire method to increase your street cred. It’s a unique way to try some quality single origin coffees.
We tried two and went with very different flavour profiles, one cleaner and one that was a bit heavier and darker. Both would be great depending on your mood. At Lamason you can also try the tried and true methods of the V60, Chemex, AeroPress and the magic they can pull from the trusty espresso machine.
I have a loyalty to Lamason Brew Bar as trying the Siphon there a couple of years ago with my friend, Elliot Taylor, was my first experience of a single origin coffee and a method that showcased it well. I don’t know if Elliot is aware of how much he changed my life that day.
I haven’t placed them in this post’s feature image and they’re not strictly a coffee place like the others, but Six Barrel are worth a quick mention because they’re serving up Peoples Coffee, some great food, and also their own artisan sodas and syrups. It’s worth stopping in for their coffee and kola nut soda. I ordered it thinking that the flavours sounded like they could work together and the three of us there were surprised at how good it was.
It was a quality kola nut soda with ice and two shots of Peoples Coffee espresso poured on top. It was magic. Visit them and give it a try.
Peoples Coffee in Newtown
Peoples Coffee have their flagship store in Newtown. It’s a clean, no nonsense space. We headed there on the morning we were leaving Wellington and heading to New Plymouth. I had wanted to visit them the day before but after 5 coffees and feeling like coffee tasting had become a dangerous extreme sport with my body reaching its limit, I decided to hold off. It was worth it. I had been worried that I may have burned my love of coffee but woke up that morning looking forward to a simple flat white.
Heading out to Newtown, away from the city centre, was nice. I love Wellington’s CBD, but being a town boy at heart, I also like to get away from it and Peoples Coffee in Newtown allowed for that so it was a great way to start the day.
I’m a big fan of Peoples Coffee because at the heart of the business is an ethical approach that captures my own value system. Sure the star of the show is the coffee and they’re masters with it, but underneath that and at its foundation is community. There is the community of coffee growers that Peoples work with and the improvement of their lives and the lives of those around them and then there’s the connection to Wellington itself. That ethical approach flows right through from the suppliers to the consumers. With Peoples Coffee now supplying some great cafes around the country, it’s good to see their ethical business model working, growing and succeeding. It’s worth a mention that Peoples Coffee supply the cafe in Auckland close to TEAR Fund (where I work) that I visit regularly – The Roskill Coffee Project, where you can stop in and have a chat with my friend, Paul, as he pulls you a great shot or two.
For the record, the flat white was fantastic and sustained me for the hours long drive to New Plymouth. If you’re checking out Wellington Cafes and believe there’s more to coffee than just us drinking it, Peoples Coffee on Constable St in Newtown is a non-negotiable. You’ve got to go there.
Havana Coffee Works
It’s fitting that Havana Coffee Works gets the last mention as Havana is the company I get my daily supply of beans from thanks to the fortnightly order of a friend. it means that the beans I use in my home are never more than two weeks old.
If you enjoy good coffee in Aotearoa New Zealand, Havana Coffee Works is one of the crews you need to thank and they should take a bow. Havana were one of the first to introduce great coffee to our shores and they’ve been championing it ever since, sourcing some of the best beans from around the world and being at the forefront of Real Trade. Again there is an ethical approach at the core.
You can find Havana Coffee Works finest espresso being served up in many cafes around Aotearoa, but the home on Tory St in Wellington is a must visit. There you can watch the roasting and packing in full swing and take the chance sit down and enjoy the coffee you feel. A flat white at Havana will set your taste buds alive. It’s a good strong hit of the best coffee coupled with the best milk in the world – Aotearoa’s own dairy products were made to go with espresso – God made it that way, I’m sure of it.
While these are some of the finest Wellington Cafes you can try, there are plenty more. Wellington coffee is a rabbit hole you can dive into and never return from as you get lost in the array of some of the world’s best coffee tasting. If you’d like to add some of your favourites to the list, leave a comment and tell us why. Enjoy.