Auckland is a city renowned for its world-class coffee culture, and our vibrant coffee shops continue to elevate the humble cup to an art form — producing thoughtfully prepared brews that go well beyond simply a pick-me-up. In keeping with this, many of our local coffee shops are pushing the envelope when it comes to perfecting their pour, roasting in-house or partnering with local roasteries to develop bespoke blends, driven by a passion for coffee preparation and a desire to reflect their unique character and the community they serve.
From bustling urban corners to tucked-away gems, these purveyors of great coffee are storytellers of origin and process, and, whether you’re a connoisseur of single origins or simply a pleasure-seeker with an appreciation for good food and drink, these cafés invite you to savour the bold, rich, unique flavours of coffee as vibrant and diverse as the origins of the beans.
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Holiday
A cosy yet contemporary coffee shop nestled in Mount Eden, Holiday was dreamt up by hospitality veteran Josh Kim, who set out to create a warm, relaxed space where locals and visitors alike could feel at home. With in-house roasted specialty coffee and freshly baked bread and pastries, at Holiday, every detail reflects a commitment to quality — right down to the minimalist, timber-clad interiors. A simple concept, executed perfectly. Here, we talk to Holiday owner, Josh Kim, about the coffee shop’s approach to coffee-making.
Tell me about your coffee and approach? Our coffee is roasted in-house so that we can create a really balanced flavour with the right depth, sweetness and acidity to let the beans sing.
Tell us about your roastery? Why was it important to you to roast in-house? Having an in-house roastery means we can really bring the very best in specialty coffee to our customers. We can have careful quality control of the process, ensuring we are creating a fantastic flavour at every step.
How does roasting in-house impact the coffee? Roasting in-house means we can control all the variables involved in making a cup of coffee. From purchasing green beans to roasting and brewing coffee, we manage the entire process from A to Z. As a result, we are able to serve our customers the best cup of coffee possible.
How is your roastery unique? I think it’s our consistency that makes us stand out. We taste and roast a lot of the coffee beans and at every step of the process we are doing quality control to ensure that time and time again we are achieving the same great balance of flavours for every cup. At our café, you can compare and taste coffees from various origins and varieties. We also offer the opportunity to enjoy coffee beans from different roasteries through our daily batch brew selection.
Coffee General
Birkenhead’s Coffee General is a neighbourhood gem that’s been serving up beautiful brews since 2013. Known for its relaxed, welcoming vibe, this café champions quality coffee — roasting on-site and offering a rotating selection of beans for coffee enthusiasts to explore. The food menu is simple yet satisfying, with pastries, tasty sandwiches, and salads made from fresh, local ingredients served in a laid-back environment that makes you feel right at home. Here, we talk to Coffee General owner, Hans Pronk, about the coffee shop’s approach to coffee-making.
Tell me about your coffee and approach? Our concept is all about providing good quality coffee, good service, and in a timely fashion. Our coffee roasting brand, Allies, is all about community and shining a light on the partners (or Allies) who work with us — like Oatly, our oat milk partner. We really see Allies as a way in which we can unite so many different areas of the coffee community and industry.
Why was it important to you to roast in-house? We started roasting coffee first; it’s our heartland and how we have been able to bring people and community together. We have designed the flavour profile of our coffee to one that I personally really like, and luckily, I’m not the only one. It’s been awesome to see so many people jumping on board and drinking our coffee.
How does roasting in-house impact the coffee? Our technique is very hands on — it’s not a mechanically automated process, which allows us the most flexible way possible to respond to the coffee and how it is tasting at any given time. We taste our product daily for quality control, so if something isn’t tasting quite right, we can re-calibrate and amend. Our main house blend has been a staple product as it works well as a black coffee but also with alternative milks like Oatly’s oat milk, too.
How is your roastery unique? We are able to create small batch single origin coffees easily because we are a small roastery, so we have the capacity to bring in new things all the time and be super creative.
Little Things Roastery
Tucked into a cosy corner in Glenfield, Little Things, owned by Indika Koggalahewa, is a welcoming café and artisanal micro-roastery that celebrates connection, creativity, and exceptional coffee. Originally from Sri Lanka, Koggalahewa blends a passion for storytelling with a sommelier-like approach to coffee, crafting complex, specialty-grade brews roasted in-house. With features like a communal guitar, and air-roasted coffee tailored to perfection, Little Things creates an intimate space where every cup is a unique experience. It’s a hidden gem redefining Auckland’s coffee culture. Here, we talk to Little Things Roastery owner, Indika Koggalahewa, about the coffee shop’s approach to coffee-making.
Tell me about your coffee and approach? I almost view coffee in the same way a sommelier views wine. Its wild the way coffee can affect the palate and the notes you can taste dependent on the variety and where it was grown, you can really taste everything from deep rich chocolate flavours right the way through to floral top notes. We like to work with partners who really value this approach, which was why partnering with Oatly just made sense to us as they really understand how great coffee tastes, their oat milk allows our in-house roasted coffee to sing.
Tell us about your roastery? Why was it important to you to roast in-house? When we launched the roastery five years ago, initially, the main driver for roasting in-house was to ensure quality control. Now, I realise as well that we were looking to create something unique as well, because roasting allows us to work with some awesome speciality coffee that no one else has. You get to make your own product and stamp your own mark on the coffee scene.
How does roasting in-house impact the coffee? It hugely affects the coffee, and it gives us a USP for our business. From a beans perspective, it gives you the ability to have an artisanal approach so that you can really remove things that affect the flavour and create a consistency through the quality control process. It really enables us to produce a better cup of coffee to match our very exacting standards. It also gives us access to a lot of speciality beans so that we can trial some interesting beans from all over the world and get creative with our offering.
How is your roastery unique? Our roastery is unique as an artisanal micro roastery — it’s in a 50sq meter space and we can have customers come in and see the full process. We air roast our coffee instead of using an old school drum roast coffee. By roasting in small batches, we can tweak and amend the coffee at any time to make sure the flavour is consistent and delicious.
Talk us through your offering? We use speciality grade, higher altitude coffees because they give you a more complex flavour profile for your palette to enjoy.
Chur Bae
Nestled in the vibrant City Works Depot precinct, Chur Bae is where nostalgia meets modern café culture. Owned by the dynamic Bae brothers, this cosy spot serves up a seasonal menu infused with comforting, familiar flavours that celebrate the simplicity of good food. This ever-welcoming locale has a bespoke coffee blend — dubbed Homebody Coffee, which the brothers crafted with a mind to their local community. Those visiting can expect warm hospitality, a lively yet laid-back vibe, and the kind of coffee that turns first-time visitors into regulars. Here, we talk to Chur Bae co-owners, Johnny and Chowder Bae, about the coffee shop’s approach to coffee-making.
Tell me about your coffee? We use our very own Homebody Coffee. We started Homebody earlier this year with the goal of creating something new and special that truly suits our customers at Chur Bae, whilst offering something unique in the coffee scene. We’ve crafted a blend that aligns with our customers’ taste preferences, and it’s been super rad to see such a positive response. The blend itself boasts a rich, dark chocolate flavour with toffee and fruity notes, complemented by a touch of Ethiopian beans. It’s complex and versatile, perfect for any time of day. It pairs really well with Oatly’s creamy oat milk too.
Tell us about your bespoke Homebody blend, who did you partner with to create it? We partnered with Lee from Atlas Coffee, who runs a roastery close to our home. We’ve always admired Lee for his genuine passion for coffee and his drive to push the boundaries of Aotearoa’s coffee industry. Working with him has truly been a dream come true for us.
Beyond their dedication to the art of coffee preperation, the things these creative coffee shops all have in common is their partnerships with the original oat milk purveyor — Oatly. Around since the 90s, and always focused solely on oat milk, Oatly is not only the best tasting oat drink on the market, but the best performing in coffee too (and that’s us speaking from personal experience). Creamy, smooth, and perfect for heating or pouring into hot (or cold) drinks, Oatly doesn’t just taste great, but the brand strives to deliver products with maximum nutritional value and minimal environmental impact too. Cheers to that.
