Here are the nominees for Best Coffee

In most cities around the world, the citizens have blood pumping through their veins. Here in Wellington, we have coffee. It’s available everywhere, from the library to the petrol station, but certain places make our hearts beat the fastest. The taste of the coffee is important, of course, but so is the atmosphere in which we buy it and the service that delivers it.

Green Land (23 Kate Shephard Pl)
We like that Green Land serves its Fairtrade organic Havana coffee in Huhtamaki Bioware compostable cups or you can bring your favourite mug along for a 50 cent discount. We also like the range of sweet treats they sell as compliments. But as this category is all about the coffee, we’ll take it the way they make it – good and strong and hot, thanks.

That place at the Beehive end of The Terrace owned by a guy called Tony (By the kebab place called Daniel's Fine Foods)
If you work on The Terrace, chances are you’ve walked past this hole-in-the-wall roastery. In fact, if you work anywhere near the Beehive, chances are you’ve had coffee here and you will definitely have smelled it when they roast the beans. In the morning (if you don’t have milk) you will be waiting less than a minute for your coffee. But “fast coffee” doesn’t mean “instant coffee”. The coffee is always exquisitely brewed and incredibly flavoursome. And it doesn’t matter if you can’t remember the name…

Caffé Italiano (229 Cuba St)
We realise that it might be as controversial as hell in Wellington to like coffee that’s not actually roasted here (and what would the Italians know about coffee, anyway?), but there’s something about the blends at Caffé Italiano that make them particularly delicious. It may be the influence of the superb cake cabinet and the attractive waitstaff, but we think their coffee could stand up on its own by itself and still be counted.

Vivace (153 Featherston St)
We all, somewhat grudgingly, will admit those damned Cantabrians know how to play rugby. But, we Wellingtonistas might ask, can they roast? Vivace on Featherston Street is the local outpost of the Christchurch café and roastery of the same name; and it answers our question: yes, they can, and very nicely too (though we wish we could report otherwise). Good coffee abounds in Wellington; so what keeps us returning to Vivace is the intimate, continental atmosphere created by the very small space it occupies, and, let’s face it, the friendly, talented, and hot baristas who seem to make a point of learning one’s name and order within a few return visits. In other words, it’s your local caffeteria.

Peoples Coffee (12 Constable St, Newtown)
We are occasionally given over to loving hippification, so Peoples Coffee (no matter how angry their apostrophe catastrophe makes us) has to be a contender. With its Adbuster magazines, the crammed communal line and the refugee community contingent, it is hippy without the dirty smell of patchouli. And then there’s all the single bean and blend beans to buy; the staff with excellent barista skills who make lattes in a traditional glass with pretty swirly patterns on top and a perfect extraction every time; and all the nifty shelving – Peoples is one heck of a cafe.