CREATING A STIR
Something’s been happening within our café culture. Coffee is not off the menu, of course, but cups are now frothing with so many alternatives. Resident foodie Stacey Jones checks out what’s brewing.
Something’s been happening within our café culture. Coffee is not off the menu, of course, but cups are now frothing with so many alternatives. Resident foodie Stacey Jones checks out what’s brewing.
If you’ve ordered a drink in the Bay lately, the person ahead of you in the café line probably isn’t asking for a flat white. They’re more likely to be choosing between a turmeric latte, a strawberry cold matcha, or an iced cacao latte with coconut cloud.
Lately, the coffee menus are looking more like a cocktail list. We clearly like drinks that taste great and make us feel good. And with the queues and growing menus, the Bay isn’t just ready for it — we’re drinking it up. A few Bay locals are now turning that interest into small businesses.
KAWAKAWA CALLING
Take Laureen and Dan of Native Tree Farm. What started as a simple question, “Why aren’t we doing more with our own native plants?” sparked the discovery of their kawakawa latte — green, warm, comforting and distinctly Aotearoa.
“All these turmeric, beetroot, matcha lattes… and here we were sitting on this incredible plant that’s been in Aotearoa forever,” Laureen says.
The lightbulb moment hit after she tried a turmeric latte at sunrise after Pilates has grown into a weekly ritual.
“We’d brew a thermos, jump in the ocean and sit on the sand talking about life,” they told me. “Coffee kept us going, but matcha slowed us down, in a good way.”
Their ceremonial-grade matcha, sourced directly from Japan after months of blind tastings, now has a devoted following. Offices do Matcha Wednesday. Friends treat it as a midweek reset. at a local café and realised the world was more than ready for their unique blend. Six months of testing later, and enough sampling “to make the whānau absolutely over it”, they nervously offered their kawakawa latte to that same café. One cautious sip and one grin from the owner resulted in, “Oh wow, that’s really nice.”
“Kawakawa is different to cacao and matcha,” she explains. “It has its own special flavour and then goes the extra mile by warming you from the inside. You feel it in your mouth, then that warmth travels through your body.
“Alternative drinks provide new ways for people to enjoy natural and traditional ingredients. It’s a connection to nature experienced in a way that aligns with a balanced and wellness-centred lifestyle.”
Their goal is to keep sharing the kawakawa latte and grow awareness of the plant and its potential. NATIVETREEFARM.CO.NZ
MATCHA MELLOWED
Over in Papamoa, Matcha Wednesday is showing what happens when a drink becomes a community. What began as two best friends, co-founders Ashley Shore and Jenna Mueller, sharing matcha at sunrise after Pilates has grown into a weekly ritual.
“We’d brew a thermos, jump in the ocean and sit on the sand talking about life,” they told me. “Coffee kept us going, but matcha slowed us down, in a good way.”
Their ceremonial-grade matcha, sourced directly from Japan after months of blind tastings, now has a devoted following. Offices do Matcha Wednesday. Friends treat it as a midweek reset.
“People are craving gentler, more grounded energy in such a fast-paced world,” Ashley says. “Matcha offers calm focus rather than intensity, along with a moment of mindfulness built into the process. People want a way to energise that doesn’t spike or overwhelm, something that supports their wellbeing rather than pushing their pace.”
Ashley reckons the Bay’s love of alt-drinks was inevitable. “The Bay has a wellness-focused, ocean loving, movement culture that gravitates toward mindful living. That lifestyle creates space for alt-drinks like matcha to complement how people want to feel, which is energised and connected to their health and wellness rituals.”