cuckoo for caffeine

You may be wan­der­ing along the water­front lat­er in the year when a crowd of large gen­tle­men in colour­ful cot­ton knit shirts may ask for direc­tions to some­thing called the “RWC Par­ty Zone”. And there­fore, as a polite host want­i­ng only the best for guests to our city, you may direct them to Cuck­oo, this lat­est des­ti­na­tion for Real Welling­ton Cof­fee.

No doubt you will already know Cuck­oo in its night­time vari­ant: it is anoth­er estab­lish­ment in Mr J Mcken­zie’s bur­geon­ing empire, and is to be found around the back of the much larg­er Fox­glove near Queen’s Wharf. It is cer­tain­ly a small, though per­fect­ly formed, Par­ty Zone.

But now dur­ing the day, baristi Mr A Macauley (for­mer­ly of Mem­phis Belle) and Mr A Smith (for­mer­ly of Mojo), have set up in Cuck­oo and are pro­vid­ing for passers-by in need of RWC and snacks. Like many oth­er baristi at our favourite cof­fee bars Messrs Macauley and Smith pro­vide not only espres­so-based drinks but also sin­gle-ori­gin pourover styled cof­fee. In addi­tion, they have report­ed­ly been exper­i­ment­ing on their espres­so, adding tinc­tures such as saline to “bring out and com­ple­ment flavours in our cof­fee” (we are assured this is option­al), and offer­ing espres­so-based cock­tails.

Hav­ing vis­it­ed Cuck­oo at lunch a num­ber of times now this Welling­ton­ista may report that the cof­fee is indeed very very good. The Nekisse beans in a Chemex cof­feemak­er were the best I have tast­ed so far, includ­ing that at the Welling­ton home of this bean, Cus­toms Brew Bar (apolo­gies to Mr R Jen­ner). And the food, while not of diverse choice, is of good qual­i­ty.

But per­haps the best aspects of Cuck­oo are the com­fort­able arm­chairs, which on a sun­ny day may be placed out­side in the sun, allow­ing one to enjoy food, drink, and a good book over a qui­et lunch hour.

Long may this be so. And per­haps, on reflec­tion, it is best we direct any large gen­tle­men look­ing for a “RWC par­ty zone” to Shed 5 and points fur­ther south… and retain Cuck­oo for our­selves.