City's coffee story from Bob to Mob

Hamilton's Coffee Mafia at Mr Milton's Canteen.

Whether it was helping attract new European custom, making American soldiers feel at home during World War II, an excuse for a catch up between friends or clutched in the hands of the influential as they considered the city's future, the humble coffee bean has been influential in Hamilton's history.

In the city's most recent testament to its residents' love of coffee, a group calling themselves the Coffee Mafia have come together to sample and share their love for the brown stuff.

The group's inception comes almost 80 years after the city was first introduced to coffee in the late 1930s.

Waikato Museum curator Dr Dan Morrow, who previously ran an exhibition entitled Espresso Stories: The Secret World of Coffee, said Hamilton's earliest dabblings with coffee can be traced back to Vienna Cafe.

"As far as we can tell it was the earliest cafe that first resembled the types of cafes which predominate today. It was started by a man called Kurt Philips, who was a Jewish man who had emigrated from Europe in the late 1930s."

He said there were tea rooms, but it was the first European-style establishment in town when it opened in 1938.

"In New Zealand at the time, espresso coffee wasn't widely available and the type of instant coffee people made was with an extract from chicory."

Morrow said American troops stationed in New Zealand during World War II stimulated a demand for New Zealand coffee which had not been felt before.

Then, in 1952, a man called Bob began blending coffee beans to cater to a niche market of European customers and set up shop in Garden Place.

He imported percolators, grinders and coffee machines and offered three grinds - fine, medium and coarse. If people moved out of Hamilton he would even post their coffee by mail in brown paper bags tied with string.

Bob was well known in the community and dressed up every year as Santa at the local orphanage. He was also a keen sportsman and amateur dramatist, and a member of the Brotherhood of Magicians. His full name? Robert Harris.

Today there are more than 40 cafes bearing his name and you can pick up a bag of his coffee at almost any supermarket in the country.

Coffee connoisseur Glen Woodcock, who along with business partner Glen Crompton, co-founded Rocket Coffee, one of Hamilton's most successful modern coffee roasters, said he could remember visiting Harris' little delicatessen shop in the early days.

"That was a time when you would buy it and keep it in the freezer for special occasions and boil it in a percolator for slightly longer than a leg of lamb, so it was severely mistreated."

The Glens were introduced in 1991 when Woodcock's girlfriend boasted of meeting a man with not only the same name, but also the same face.

"She brought him home for show and tell."

The oddity doesn't end there; the pair were born a day apart, a fact which Crompton, as the elder, often reminds his counterpart.

Crompton needed a flat, so the Glens ended up flatting together.

When university was over, Woodcock shot off to Queenstown to avoid going into his father's engineering supplies business while Crompton joined a cafe in Hamilton as manager.

Woodcock noticed the roasting machines dotted around Queenstown and brought the idea of coffee roasting back to Hamilton.

The pair's first cafe opened on the corner of Hood and Victoria St in 1995. The Rocket Espresso Lounge was perhaps the first cafe in Hamilton to roast its own coffee.

The name sprung from a 5kg coffee roaster they operated at the time which resembled a rocket. The little machine must have seemed quaint compared to the computerised Goliath that fills a room in their current HQ off Barton St.

The practice of roasting was so unusual at the time that the fire department were regularly appearing on their doorstep after concerned residents saw smoke or smelled the roasting beans.

"After a while they probably realised it was going to be a regular thing and they stopped sending the fire engines," said Crompton.

A second cafe sprang up in 1998 in Hamilton East.

Woodcock said when they started there were about 20 roasters in New Zealand; now there are around 250. A number of other Hamilton-based roasters have also sprung up, including Weka, Red Cherry and L'Aroma.

Crompton said the key to longevity in a game that is becoming increasingly competitive was to keep learning and never be satisfied with what you know.

"We don't make business decisions, we make coffee decisions and then make business decisions around that," he said.

Rocket's base on Barton St is now part cafe, part roaster and part repair shop where the team fix up espresso machines.

The Glens must be doing something right, with the Hamilton Coffee Mafia placing both of their cafes in top spot for best coffee in Hamilton (they also own SL28 on Victoria St).

Brought together by Twitter, a mutual love of Hamilton and a taste for its coffee, coffee blogger Alyssa Holcroft (@lyssacecelia) said the Hamilton Coffee Mafia is the only group of its kind in New Zealand.

Alyssa's relationship with coffee began as a youngster when her parents' ownership of two restaurants meant she was always around it. "I started the blog because I take too many pictures and go to too many cafes."

She said it often came down to the barista, rather than the cafe or brand of coffee.

The group includes students, lecturers, app developers, real estate agents and health care workers, all of whom are happy to take 30 minutes off work for a little "networking".

Architect Brian Squair, who describes himself as a "dark roast guy", said his love of coffee led him to roast his own - a mission which led to two ruined popcorn makers before he finally forked out for a tabletop roaster. But he said nothing beats the social atmosphere of a cafe.

Wintec communications team manager Cate Prestidge said she was sure the Mafia would grow organically "just like the coffee" as word of the group spread.

Top five coffee spots in Hamilton according to the Coffee Mafia:
1. SL28 on Victoria St ties with Rocket on Barton St
2. Newcomer Grey Gardens on Grey St
3. Mr Milton's Canteen on Alexandra St
4. Cinnamon on Sandwich Rd
5. Scotts Epicurean on Victoria St
Hhonorary mentions: Jack's Coffee Lounge on Cambridge Rd, DemiUrgos on Victoria St and Dora's Cafe on Collingwood St.