The Classiest of Cafes.

Or rather, the best coffee. And food. We present our list of the greatest places in Auckland to get your caffeine fix. You're welcome to add anywhere we missed in the comments! (Where we know what coffee they use, we've noted it too.)

1. Rutland St Expresso Bar - conveniently located between the AUT Business and Communications schools, and the Auckland Public Library (my three weekday homes), this fantastic, tiny coffeeshop is run by a couple of really cool guys who make a mean latte. They're happy for you to hang out for an hour and only order one coffee, and their ginger crunch is to die for. Supreme Coffee.

2. Craven 'A' on St Paul St. Another uni cafe, these ladies will memorize your order super quick and the coffee is always good, albeit sometimes a bit too hot. Allpress coffee.

3. Expresso Workshop Manukau Rd - go to cafe when we were at school, award winning barista and incredible coffee. They now have a cafe down in Brito, but we all know that's just selling out . . . House brand coffee.

4. Teed St Larder, Teed St Newmarket. Always good coffee, the food is either brilliant or awful, but the cabinet food is a great bet. Generous servings, fabulous decor. Try not to get a crate table though - uneven surfaces are suckers for spills! Three Beans coffee.

5. BRD. Up the road from my house, the local go to for all remuera mothers and various other people with small dogs. They can take ages, but it's pretty failsafe good. Allpress coffee.

6.  Cafe Massimo, Nuffield St (also in Takapuna). A regular for catchups, the atmosphere here is lovely, and if you sit out on the pavement you can watch all sorts of crazy people go by. Guaranteed to see a few people you know. Good coffee, house brand.

7. Les Pyrenees, Remuera Road. Don't go in here hungry - you won't be able to resist the divine tarts and macarons on display. They boys here are charming and French (bonus points), and it's service with a smile.

8. La Boulange, Lorne St. Manned by the lovely Sophia, this teeny tiny coffee window will give you great coffee and some french pastry goodness. Win-win.

9. Shaky Isles, Britomart & Kingsland. Cool modern vibe, and free wireless while you drink! "For all your youtube, facebook and other 'work' requirements". Plus the pancake serving sizes are impressive. Caffe L'affare coffee.

10. Johnny Wrays, High Street. On the way to uni for me, $3 coffee for students and they'll sometimes give you a free banana or brownie. Could it get any better? House brand coffee.

11. Cafe Melba, Hurstmere Road, Takapuna. Go for great coffee and Sean Kim's amazing coffee art. Among the best have been an elephant, an easter bunny and an Angry Bird! The best place for brunch. House coffee.

12. Little & Friday, Eversleigh Road, Belmont. The original Little & Friday. The coffee is good, the staff are lovely and the food is absolutely amazing. Good to look at, too.

When in doubt, hit up any one of these amazing places. Hope you enjoy.

Love Amy & Lizzie xx

Tous les choses français.

My love of all things french appears to be multiplied at the moment. Several reasons why.


1. Upcoming trip to Tahiti (here I take a moment to jump up and down and squeal like a sugar-hyped child), where I have just realized I am one of the only people on the trip who speaks a word of French. Oh dear, let's crack out the revision notes? Oui monsieur, en fait, je vais prendre un autre cocktail. Merci.

(yes, this is actually the place I'm staying!!!)

2. The gorgeous cafe Les Pyrenees up the road, where the charming french baristas gave me free coffee and attempted to converse in French. I was suitably embarrassed (and probably didn't deserve the coffee).

3. Today (according to ZM) is National Macaron Day, and even though I can find no supportive evidence on the internet, I am not one to pass up an opportunity to celebrate. Tragically, macarons did not make it into my busy schedule, but fear not, I am simply postponing celebrations.

4. I picked up two copies of French Vogue discounted the other day, and proceeded to remind myself how much French I have FORGOTTEN. Oh dear. What will happen when one day, I run into Emmanuelle or Carine on the street and I have nada to say? I suppose they speak English and will understand when I start babbling about how much I love them, but I digress.

Also, Natalia and Kate were on the covers. How was I supposed to pass that up??

5. I also picked up (book nerd) a copy of Le Petit Prince, in English. We studied it in French in 7th form, and I didn't understand it completely. Hopefully round two, when I'm not trying to translate every word and write essays dissecting it, it will be more enjoyable.

 A bientôt mes chéries, j'espère que vous avez un bon weekend. 

Si vous aves des examens, travaillez dur!

Amy xx

P.S. Forgot to mention - Lizzie's french baristas one-upped mine - hers bring her coffee to work! Got to get me some of those. . ..