Road trip coffee - a review

Up and down the country, where's the best brew?

Driving around this amazing country can really take it out of you. Even more so if you’re travelling far away from your favourite café or coffee hit.

Can you really find passable coffee when you’re in the middle of nowhere, somewhere along the 11,000 kms of our State Highway network?

I was keen to find out. I packed up the family wagon, kids and all, and embarked on a 1,200km round trip to find the best tasting coffee on the New Zealand State Highway network (well, we were going that way anyway, so, might as well right?).

The rules

There were no rules. I did what I liked, when I wanted to, cos I’m the forth highest ranking member of my family gang (of four). The power I had was huge. I got to suggest places to stop, and the others got to suggest I was wrong.

A perfect system.

The actual rules for this little sojourn were that the coffee had to be purchased takeaway, as a part of getting from somewhere to somewhere else. This wasn’t about finding the best café and spending a morning there working (thanks @yourlocalbarista!).

No, it was about finding that caffeine injection that you wanted, no, required, to make sure you didn’t drive the car off the road.

I had very low expectations. I was wrong to have low expectations, as I quickly discovered that you don’t have to compromise taste for convenience. Holy shit, we have great coffee (nearly) everywhere.

From the worst to the best, here are the results.

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I’m out and about trying coffee, testing beans, and experimenting with flavour so you get to try some great tasting beverages! Or avoid the ones that taste like shite.

Help me out by buying me a coffee.

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Gull - Hewletts Road, Mt Maunganui

If you look at the above picture and think this isn’t the place for a kick ass coffee, you’d be right.

The barista/petrol pumper did an admirable job given the tools that he had at his disposal.

It took ages to make, and considering I was the only one waiting for the coffee, that was disappointing.

The coffee came out too hot to drink quick, too bitter, and without the full body yumminess you expect from well textured milk.

And my youngest one was having a complete meltdown on the forecourt.

1/5. Would drive straight past next time.

BP - Bayview, Hawkes Bay

We had a lot of BP Wild Bean coffee on this trip.

One of the coolest things about Wild Bean, is that you can order online and have you coffee ready to rock when you arrive. A great little hack when you don’t to wait around for ages with annoying kids being annoying.

This one was purchased around 4pm on a Wednesday as we left Napier to head to Taupō, and fair play to them, it was good. Getting coffee this late in the afternoon is always a risk - it’s late in the day shift for the baristas to keep caring, and too early for the new shift to come on, full of pep.

While this was good, this was too hot. I had to wait like 30 mins to get that caffeine hit. Dangerous after a full day of remote working and a long drive ahead.

2/5 - marks down for being out of brownie.

BP - Bulls

I had high hopes for this one, and I was sort of let down.

In Bulls, 2 hours away from Wellington, at about 1pm on a Monday afternoon. Tired after 4 hours already in the car, but excited to try this coffee, due to the experience I had at at a BP earlier in the day.

BP Wild Bean cafes have SINGLE ORIGIN BEANS.

Woah - fancy.

But this single origin Colombian flat white was a bit off the mark. Solid as, drinkable temperature, but a bit average.

3/5 - I was tired and it hit the mark, so good on them.

Taupō’s Steaming Bean - Taupō

Winner of best view for a roadie coffee.

Stopped here on our way from Taupō to Tauranga. Even though it was only 10am, this was the forth coffee of the morning.

The coffee was pretty good. Milk was nice and silky, which made up for the slightly over extracted shot. It was pretty busy and they weren’t the fastest, but being right by the lake made up for it.

As did the raspberry and white chocolate muffin. Solid AF.

The Steaming Bean is on the lakeside as you head in Taupō, just before the punishing row of crappy motels. Stop in if you’re passing through.

4/5 - muffin and view made it a worth while stop.

BP - Fenton Street, Rotorua

Holy smokes. This was one of the best coffees I had the whole trip. On par with the amazing Ethiopian I had at Firsthand in Havelock North. That’s a reflection on Wild Bean’s coffee, not Firsthand’s!

This was the first BP I had tried the single origin Colombian, and it didn’t disappoint.

You could taste the bean, it was well extracted with a great sweetness and body, complimented by a super creamy milk.

This was a coffee I’d drive back to Rotorua to have again - it was all time.

5/5 - one of the best flat whites I have had this year

Well done, Aotearoa

It’s 2022, the world is on fire, it’s 40 degrees in London, inflation is at a 30 year high, COVID has ANOTHER variant, the All Blacks lost a home series to Ireland, but all is not lost, because you can still get a killer coffee anywhere in New Zealand.

And that is something, right?

It better be.