From Coffee general

A massive welcome from Coffee General to the newest kids on our block! Ark Coffee

Ark is a carefully hand crafted specialty coffee roastery and retail store based in Auckland established in 2012 founded by two sisters who simply want to bring real quality coffee full of many characteristics and aroma to be enjoyed in the comfort of everyone’s homes. 
It’s not about us but the coffees that we want to share with you and the quality time which you spend drinking these carefully handcrafted coffees which are our most importance and primary focus.

The story behind each bean is different and so is it’s flavour and aromas, and so is everyone’s choice of taste. We wanted to create a place where our customers can really get to know one coffee and help them find a brewing method that is most suited for their lifestyle to maximize their coffee drinking experiences.

Check out some of their great coffees here!

We have had Flight in stores for a while now and they are really proving to be a hit! What’s more, we have now added them to the list permanently and you can get them online too – right here!

With Nick (NZ Barista Champion 2013) and Matt behind the helm and Richard roasting some fine coffee. There is a lot of good stuff coming from these guys in Wellington.

For a Wednesday morning treat we gave Kokako a try. As an espresso brewed coffee, this cup was just what we were looking for to get us through the morning. The pleasant acidity and medium, earthy body of the Aotea Blend made for a nice experience.

We’ll be trying the Nicaragua Monteverde soon and will sure to let you know our thoughts on this one. For now, jump to the shop and get yourself a bag of the fine Aotea Blend.

Filter Coffee often gets flack in New Zealand for being a coffee brewing method surpassed by espresso. To challenge that, we would like to suggest trying some of the lighter, single origin coffees through the filter, whether it be a Hario V60 Pourover or a Swiss Gold.

The lighter roasting makes room for the flavours of the coffee to shine, the filter method is a softer process than espresso, so the delicate subtleties of the coffees come through. There is a distinct difference in taste from cup to cup.

The benefit of using specialty coffees is the heightened quality of flavour in the cup. Today we try Merito’s Peruvian Organic through Swissgold. We taste the nutty and fruity flavours we were hoping to find.

Part of our mission here at Coffee General is to continually find better and better coffee to put onto our site for you to taste and appreciate as we do.

We went and saw Andrew today of Espresso Workshop as we wanted to try some of his specialty coffee available here. The recommendation from him was the Nicaragua Luis Emilio Gomez and what a treat it was. Full of fruity goodness, strawberry and caramel sweetness just as he had described to us – this is a coffee we’ll be enjoying for a while I think.

Through the SwissGold this morning is Underground’s fine Avant Garde.

The pleasant woody finish is noticeable in this filter coffee, we get a medium acidity with a hint of fruit and a slight fragrance of baked chocolate. The Avant Garde is a blend of Columbian, Brazilian and Nicaraguan coffees.

A tasty way to start a Friday morning!

Coffee General opens it’s physical doors today for the first time ready for you to drop on by. With 3 coffee grinders offering a rotating selection of New Zealand’s finest specialty coffee and a brew bar for exquisite single origins, we give you the choice for an awesome, custom experience.

There is a great selection of coffee gadgetry to choose from too and your own coffee to take back home or to the office.

Drop by and check it out, 100A Hinemoa Street, Birkenhead.

Open Monday – Friday 6:30am – 4pm and Saturday and Sunday 7:30am – 3:30pm

A store in the making…

 …and then…

With a successful few months under the belt we are now opening a store on Auckland’s North Shore. Building is under-way and we plan to have the doors open by 11th of February.

The first Coffee General store will take a different approach to your regular cafe. While still offering the usual suspects, Coffee General is getting a little creative and opening the boundaries of coffee brands/roasters and giving each and every person the chance to take the pick of the bunch.

Together with us in this debut line-up at our new store are the great guys that have been with us from the start; Underground, Kokako, Espresso Workshop, Three Beans and Merito. We can’t wait to be serving your brews.

Below is a little heads up as to how we are going to be serving our coffee. You’ll see you can still get your espresso fix but there is also so much more to offer.

Drop by to see just what we have for you! 100a Hinemoa Street, Birkenhead, Auckland

See you soon.

The origin of coffee has a popular story, albeit questionable in authenticity, of a young Ethiopian goat herder discovering the bean when he noticed his goats acting peculiarly after nibbling on the berries of a certain plant. At first the bean was chewed but they were found to be to bitter, they were then roasted and become hard. To soften them, they were then boiled which resulted in the formation of a brown liquid – the revitalizing substance of coffee. From Ethiopia, the bean spread to Egypt and Yemen then onto the entire Middle East and Northern Africa. A while later the beans graced Italy, and the rest of Europe then onto the Americas and Indonesia.

Coffee has developed greatly since then and now we attribute academic tuition towards it, we have broken down the science, found the benefits and continue to enjoy the ever emerging taste profiles. We know that different varietals within the species produce different flavours, that origin,   altitude, cultivation times, processing methods and storage all contribute to the end cup. And what’s more, we are still writing the pages of history today!

We start Coffee General with a bang this October. Already available to satisfy your coffee needs are 5 brilliant roasters and their selection of fine coffee – a huge thanks to you! They are;

Kokako

Merito

Espresso Workshop

Three Beans

Underground Coffee

Enjoy the site and come back often as the list of available coffees will forever be changing as well as the addition of more and more coffee roasters.

Thanks for stopping by.