Tambia Coffee, which curated the list, said they were "not braced for the coffee storm that came from New Zealanders". Photo: 123rf
New Zealand is getting a special shoutout after previously being snubbed for a top coffee ranking.
Last week, many local coffee goers were in dismay when a top 50 list of coffee destinations didn't feature a single Kiwi brew.
But Tambia Coffee, which curated the list, said they were "not braced for the coffee storm that came from New Zealanders" and today made a special collection of top Kiwi coffee spots.
Passionate advocates who got in touch with the company even toppled its near-perfect Trustpilot review score.
"You missed out Wellington, NZ entirely. You have included a dozen of appalling US cities who filter their damn beans, simply because there are more of them and they post a particular hashtag more? Sheesh," one reader made clear.
"Shame on you for not including Wellington!" said another.
Tambia coffee used TikTok and Instagram hashtags, as well as TripAdvisor data to get to its rankings - something clearly New Zealanders were not necessarily compelled to post about.
Nonetheless, it gathered a collection of 15 local destinations for coffee.
Wellington's Peoples Coffee, Customs, Havana and L'affare were among some of the capital's top spots.
Flight Coffee and The Hangar co-founder Nick Clark said they were humbled that fans got them on the list.
"I'm not going to lie, it's hard to believe sometimes - because we've been going since 2009 - some weeks, memories come to the forefront of when we were just starting out and we go like, 'Wow, do you remember that?'.
"It just makes us think that yeah, we have come a long way."
In Auckland, it was Eighthirty, Kōkako and TOB Coffee closest to people's hearts.
Altezano Brothers also made the cut. Co-founder Richard Goatley said sometimes a fuss will get you what you want.
"Most places, if you look hard enough, you can find a really great coffee... we really are past those bad '90s coffee days," he said.
But Altezano said New Zealanders need to be careful we did not get a reputation for whinging.
It was not a definitive list - perhaps for fear of further backlash, Tambia Coffee was still asking people to contact them if there was a top spot they missed.
