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There were only one or two coffee houses in Wellington in the 1940s, including the
classic French Maid in Lambton Quay above. The local scene was still dominated by
the long-established tea rooms, milk bars and pubs. A menu gives an idea as to what
was on offer at the time. Even then art lined the walls.
KIWI CAFES START WITH MILK
Our café tradition actually began in Wellington
with the appearance of milk bars in the 1930s.
They started during Prohibition in the US and
flourished throughout the 20s. Their success
here was fueled by the stationing of American
troops in Wellington during WWII.
Milk bars became places for young people to
meet. Women would also wait there while their
partners were at the pub, still a male preserve.
And they became, notoriously, an after-school
gathering place for secondary school students.
From the 1920s to the 1950s, ‘coffee’, to most
Wellingtonians, meant ‘coffee essence’ - liquid
coffee with chicory flavouring served in hot
milk. This created the culture of a sophisticated
café scene, hangouts open late like pubs, but
without spirits.
During the 1950s, European style coffee
houses, powered by Italian espresso machines,
multiplied, mirroring the Italian/beatnik
coffee houses of San Francisco’s North
Beach and New York’s Greenwich Village.
Wellington’s Monde Marie, Harry Seresin’s
Coffee Gallery, and Suzy’s Coffee Lounge
– and Christchurch’s Attic Coffee House –
hosted writers, poets, artists, intellectuals
and cool jazz musicians.
And a mystique grew up around the café’s
quasi-industrial design and architecture,
with some establishments sharing space
with the likes of a bike repair shop, a tailor,
or a cobbler. Wellington’s Flight Coffee,
owned by New Zealand barista champ Nick
Clark is specialising in the ‘steam punk’
retro look.
Meanwhile, the general Kiwi population,
still seemed to favour their instant. The café
scene deflated somewhat during the 1960s
and ’70s, but has since grown in popularity
and snobification.
Wellington continues to be the focal
point for the increasingly
sophisticated coffee culture.
Located there are highly
specialized micro coffee
roasters, distributors of
espresso machines/grinders/
roasters, trainings, and the
Caffination expo/competition.
The Coromandel hosts its own
specialty roaster, Coffee LaLa,
and boasts many fine caf
é
s,
which often double as gift shops,
restaurants, art galleries, or garden
centres. Learn more about the big
part owners and baristas play in
establishing a caf
é
culture on the
following pages.
COFFEE CAPTURES KIWIS
Coffee started its splash to favoured status
through the combined influence of American
servicemen stationed here during WWII (fueled
by endless rations of instant coffee), and the
arrival of European immigrants and settlers who
longed to recreate their espresso cafés, with
real pulled espresso.
While Kiwis were sticking overall to their
cuppa tea, two coffee brewing methods were
historically popular in the States: the bottom
heated percolator and top down drip brewing.
The bottom heating elements scorched the
brew to such an extent it was hard to really
get a ‘fresh’ cup. In Europe, the French coffee
press was popular with the grounds steeped in
boiling water and then pressed to the bottom of
the flask, with coffee at the top.
Now, however, our taste in coffee is becoming
more refined, with a growing fixation on
perfectly roasted beans, pricier caffeinated
concoctions, and artisan coffee brewers. Yet
a surprisingly big part of the world is going in
the opposite direction. Traditional tea drinkers,
especially in India and China, are turning
toward the convenience of instant coffee which
now accounts for more than 34% of all the
coffee consumed around the world.
In Australia and New Zealand, instant still
accounts for over 75% of coffee consumed,
the highest percentage registered for any
region. Europeans might favour fresh beans,
but also appreciate the occasional instant; they
consume 40% of the world’s supply.
The only real exception to the instant coffee
craze is America, which is entirely unique in
its aversion to it. Sales of instant have hardly
budged since 2008, and virtually all growth in
the US coffee market comes from fresh coffee
and beans.
Even Starbuck’s, which launched its own
premium instant coffee line called Via in 2009,
was so successful globally that they are looking
to expand everywhere
except
in America where
even they haven’t been able to overcome its
‘instant’ aversion.
In the beginning
there was darkness.
Then God made a good
strong pot of coffee
and got to work.
World War II servicemen, whose appetite for milk was intensified by the lack of
drinkable coffee and their dislike of tea, queue up at a milk bar in Wellington. The
caffé Americano was also a drink from WWII; American servicemen did not like the
strong Italian espressos, so they watered it down to their accustomed strength.