Where is the best coffee in New Zealand? Study names Queenstown as top spot

New Zealand snagged the top spot in a recent study of the top coffee cities. Photo / Tourism NZ

Many cities in New Zealand and Australia have great coffee but if you are searching for the best, head to Queenstown.

According to a recent study, new research claims Queenstown is the coffee capital of Oceania, beating coffee-crazed cities Wellington and Melbourne.

Remitly reviewed multiple data points including over 2.37 million customer reviews on Google Maps and over 4000 Instagram posts to create an index. The digital financial service platform also considered cafes’ average ratings and the number of customer reviews and adjusted for city population size.

Queenstown’s score of 97.8 out of 100 put it at the top of the list, followed by Coffss Harbour (NSW) and the Gold Coast, which came second and third.

Despite a “modest number of cafes” on Google Maps (112), Queenstown scored highly thanks to the number of reviews and ratings. The 112 cafes listed on Google Maps had, on average, 400 reviews and a score of 4.47 out of 5.

Queenstown, Coffs Harbour and Gold Coast scored the highest in the index. Photo / Tourism NZ

Four other NZ cities made the top 20 list including Taupō (10th), Rotorua (13th), Nelson (19th) and Timaru (20th).

Surprisingly absent was Wellington, a city often praised for its coffee and food culture. Big cities such as Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga and Dunedin were also missing from the index.

The index adjusted for population size but did not consider the number of tourists who visit each city; people who may be more likely to review a cafe versus residents visiting a local cafe.

Australia dominated the index with 15 of the top 20 cities. In second place, Coffss Harbour had 149 cafes on Google Maps which had an average rating of 4.23. One five-star review reportedly described cafes in Coffs as “just hitting different”.

Gold Coast came in third with 379 cafes to serve just 645,000 residents. Of the 117,894 reviews, the average score was 4.42 out of 5.

Seventh on the list was Melbourne, which boasted 1127 cafes but only an average score of 4.37, while Sydney was placed 12th with the largest number of cafes (1,340) and an average score of 4.35.

The report suggested Gold Coast's seaside views may also contribute to high cafe ratings. Photo / File

What are the top-rated cafes in Queenstown?

According to Google Maps, Queenstown cafes with the highest Google Review ratings include Beach St Cafe (4.8), Drop Cafe (4.7), odd saint (4.7) and Balls and Bangles (4.7).

The Life’s a Grind Espresso coffee van, parked at 58 Stanley St, has 163 reviews and an almost perfect average rating of 4.9/5.