Customs Coffee House

While I find coffee is the quintessentially urban Auckland sort of hot drink, tea has seemed to have been relegated to a not as cool older (regional) relative. Personally I like a good peppermint tea myself as I do already consume far too much coffee and that can’t really be good for you.
I constantly see people enjoying a good brew when I walk past this little shop on my way to Queen street so thought I would venture inside and check it out.
It’s like a dark little opium den in there, I could hardly see far enough to make out what I was ordering off the menu. It was immediately evident to me that like claimed it really hadn’t been altered since its opening 65 years ago. I felt like I was an extra on Coro Street or something.
I chose to sit out on the table and chairs in the Queens arcade so I could be sure I could actually see what I was doing and wouldn’t slop it all down my front.
While they have over 60 different teas available, I tried the Turkish Apple Tea as a departure from my usual peppermint option, and really enjoyed it, it was fresh and a little zingy.

If you love coffee, you can’t really help walking into a place that proclaims itself as Customs Coffee house. Oddly enough, they actually serve far more then just coffee — Customs Coffee House seems to specialise in tea far more then their coffee supplies — so much so that I wonder if ‘tea house’ would be a better name — although it has less alliteration. This is the kind of place I would take my nana if I wanted to show her a big day out on the town, one which would rekindle all her memories of the olden days. I am not saying that this place is necessarily old fashioned, just that it isn’t exactly new fangled either. They serve up a selection of foods — scones, muffins, the usual ‘english café’ fare,’ and their coffee is actually really good.

I love Customs Coffee House; located just off the busy Customs street in Queens Arcade is this delightfully quaint spot.
Not only can you get pretty much any type of tea you would like including the South American variety of Mate, you even can order a coffee, and a bite of something to add to your beverage.
The coffee house, has always been a hangout for the elderly population but also attracts a number of the younger age group too who just love a good pot of tea.
I would probably only pop in occasionally with my dad, who loves the old traditions of this spot, and enjoy a cup of coffee, and a savoury or sweet scone.
I just think the location probably does not do the coffee house justice, I just envisage a really neat bright tea room with lots of décor, but perhaps they let you down on that level.

Every time I have ever been past here all I have ever seen is really old people drinking tea and this place has a lot of tea. I like tea myself and decided to go and reduce the mean age by entering the shop a couple of weeks back.
The tea variety is impressive and I found the service to be pretty good. I wasn’t interested in staying for tea, the place is sort of dark and the environment isn’t one in which I would want to stay for any length of time that it would take me to drink a pot of tea. What had caught my attention was the teapots in the window, cast iron, glass, ceramic, you name it they have it and all the accessories. I was after one of their heavy cast iron teapots which is what I went in for. The service was good and I was happy with my teapot. If you are into tea or know someone who is, or who is old, then this is one place to take them to.

Customs Coffee House is an absolute mecca for coffee and tea lovers in the CBD.
This a great place to take people who are fussy about their hot drinks, as they are real specialists. i can’t imagine anyone being disappointed here, as they stock more than 60 different kinds of tea! The really distinguishing part about the shop is the incredible array of coffee and tea gadgets that they sell. There’s everything from stovetop espresso makers and plungers, to every variety of teapot you can image.
This is an excellent place to take your nana too, becasue they have all that tiny, delicate food that makes me want to say «pardon» and «luncheon».