Capital cool: Iced coffee in Wellington

Possibly the cutest coffee in the city, the iced coffees at Gemini look just as good as they taste.

Your drink arrives as a teddy bear of frozen coffee, sitting on a cup of cold milk or ice. Pour over your fresh shot of hot espresso and watch the magic happen (and get your phone ready for the perfect video). Your drink melts to a perfectly chilled and caffeinated iced coffee.

If you’re not caffeine-inclined, there is also iced chocolate (a frozen reindeer), mocha, and a hybrid of milk tea and milk coffee.

Chill out with an iced coffee at Swimsuit. Already a mecca of cool in the capital, this trendy café has iced drinks to keep you caffeinated on warm days. Have a delicious iced maple, with a hint of sweetness. Try a refreshing summer brown, or an iced long black.

Owned and operated by local Tait Burge, Swimsuit is a destination coffee spot. With outdoor seating and an endless supply of excellent tunes, it’s a great spot to catch up with friends or have a relaxing morning. The cheese scones are some of the city’s best.

As roasters of some of Wellington’s best beans, it’s fair to say that Flight knows a thing or two about a good brew. So, it’s no wonder that the cold coffee options are just as good as the hot.

Visit its central city flagship café, The Hangar, for a range of different iced coffee drinks. Its cold drip is made with a 12-hour cold extraction process. There’s also a cold brew for the filter fans. The summer brown is for those looking for something a little more chilled flavour-wise. It uses an espresso-based coffee and milk for a cold flat white. You can also try a 4° mocha, made of cold drip coffee and chocolate.

If you’re looking for an iced coffee with a twist, look no further.

Pour & Twist is Aotearoa’s first fully manual coffee bar, with no espresso machine in sight. The drinks are delicious no matter the temperature, but the cold options are stand outs.

The menu offers standard black, white and maple cold brew coffees. However, Pour & Twist has a few more experimental iced options on offer. Its co-coffee is an aeropress coffee served over iced coconut water. For something with a little fizz, try a coffee tonic — coffee served over iced tonic water. If you have a sweet tooth, go for a pink coco — strawberry milk and coffee (or chocolate) over ice.

Enjoy a coffee from a jar at Evil Twins. The family-run café offers cult-favourite, hand-batched iced drinks.

In a bigger size than your usual takeaway coffee, they’re perfect for sharing with a friend. Served chilled, choose from an oat milk triple shot latte, iced chocolate, or peach tea. The fan favourite is the matcha love. Made with 100% ceremonial pure matcha, it’s a jar of green goodness. You can pick up some Evil Twins merch to go with your drink from the retail space next door.

Found on the corner of Taranaki and Jessie Streets, West Two is a great morning coffee stop. The menu is designed for on-the-go snacks. Owner Abbie Dorrington provides fresh trays of locally sourced baking. Grab a cheese scone, croissant, Danish, or doughnut to go with your drink of choice.

Coffee comes from L’affare, conveniently roasted just up the road. If you’re looking for something different, West Two’s matcha drinks have a fanatic local following. The team makes the syrups for the blueberry and strawberry matchas in-house. They’re not listed on the menu so you have to ask.

Across the road from Wellington’s busy railway station is New Chapter Coffee Brewers.

The small café is owned by veteran barista Long Nguyen. Long has both competed and judged at the New Zealand Barista Championships, so you know you’re in for a top-quality coffee. While Long is an expert at traditional coffees, the café’s cold brews are in a league of their own.

Try a traditional, single-origin cold brew, which changes beans daily. The star of the show is the creative cold brew. Called “The Original”, there’s nothing standard about this drink. The Original was dreamed up by Long in his first New Zealand Barista Championship, and combines cold brew coffee with orange dandelion Six Barrel Soda. The drink is topped with a toasted cinnamon quill, and served over ice.

A coffee institution in the capital, Customs is home to a local favourite iced coffee. Order an iced latte, and ask for “naughty milk”. Made with filter coffee that’s been chilled overnight for optimum temperature and flavour, the milk is a special “off menu” addition. Combining regular milk with condensed milk, it’s a deliciously cold sweet treat. If you’re looking for milk that’s more nice than naughty, you can order that too.

Customs enjoys a prime position for sunshine on Ghuznee Street. Your iced drink of choice is best enjoyed perched on a stool outside, soaking up the Wellington sun.