Shaken Christchurch cafe keeps the flat whites coming

Hamish Evans uses two vats to boil water for coffee sales in his busy New Brighton cafe. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Keeping water on the boil is part of the daily grind for a Christchurch coffee maker since the weekend's earthquake.

Hamish Evans' Switch Espresso cafe came through unscathed from the Christchurch earthquake but all around it New Brighton's houses and businesses are in ruins.

Yesterday a church nearby lost its cross in an aftershock.

Since reopening, business has boomed as earthquake victims seek solace in a hot cup of coffee.

With the espresso machine back up and running on Monday, Evans has sold 30 per cent more cups of coffee than his previous best-ever day.

"People, they like a bit of normality. They wanted to be able to go down and get a coffee, in fact they really enjoy that," said Evans.

Initially the company operated out of a coffee cart normally used at big events, but after a council sign-off on the building, water and kitchen hygiene it is business as usual.

Switch Espresso's water supply has been given the all-clear but the cafe is still boiling the water in big vats to ensure it is completely safe to drink.

Evans said people have been grateful to see the cafe open and it has become a hub of the community, a place where people have come to swap their earthquake stories.

Despite the company's nine staff being flat out and exhausted, Evans said it feels more like offering a community service than a normal working day.

As well as the cafe, Switch Espresso runs a wholesale business roasting coffee beans to supply cafes from Kaikoura through to Ashburton.

Evans said about 25 per cent of his wholesale customers are yet to reopen but those that have opened have been extremely busy.

The focus for the next few weeks will be on getting coffee roasted and out to those wholesale customers.

The quake has delayed the company's plans for a new roastery in the central city.

Evans said a deal, due to be signed on Monday, had been put on hold given the likely scarcity of tradespeople available to work on the new premises.