The Shelf

This is an update to my previous review because after nine months of living in Auckland, I find myself coming to the Shelf almost once a week (I’m a poor student, so this is quite a lot). The coffee is amazing (I alternate between long blacks and flat whites). The food is great as well – I’d recommend any of their muffins and sandwiches. Service is friendly and attentive, and the décor and atmosphere are basically what you’d expect from what I assume is a café run by Koreans (i.e. quaint and kind of adorable).
It still gets crazy crowded around lunch time, though, so plan for takeaway during peak hours.

Amazing Coffees, hot and cold they do it right. Everything is brought to you with beautiful presentation in one of the cutest store fronts you’ll find! Also if your looking for brunch their waffle is delicious!

Auckland Unilocalers, you have not let me down yet! Was wandering around one morning while visiting, looking for some good food and coffee with my husband. We were sans children for the weekend, feeling laid back and carefree.
We walked past The Shelf and I thought, «That one looks cute.» A quick look on Unilocal and I made us turn around to check it out. What a good decision, thanks to all of you who came before us :)
The décor is cute and intimate, light-​hearted and clever, including the carved wood covers on the menus that hang on the wall and spell out the word S-​H-​E-​L-​F.
I had the simple eggs on toast, but it was awesome. I don’t usually get all that excited for eggs and toast, but they were both done so perfectly tasty.
And then the coffee. We both had vanilla flat whites. The vanilla came as a shot on the side, so you can add as much or as little as you like. The coffee was just plain amazing. I know a lot of folks have already remarked on this, but it was so good I felt compelled to put in my own applause as well.
Will definitely be back next time I’m in town.

After hearing all about this spot from various people, I decided to take a couple of my friends there. From the appearance alone, it’s five stars. As soon as we entered we were greeted warmly and the same as when we left. The menu has items for everybody and are reasonably priced — I especially loved their ‘Toasted Bagel’ and their teas, I was happily surprised when it came out in a teapot and a little milk jug. I was able to have 3 – 4 cups for just $ 4. Overall a great experience and can’t wait to go back.

I’m giving 5 stars because this place serves the best coffee I’ve ever had in Auckland. I ordered a soy flat white and it was creamy, full bodied and bold all at the same time. Also, it was an actual, proper, real deal flat white (ie: no fluffy foam, just crema on top) which is something I really yearn for as a former barista.
I’ve started coming here regularly on my morning tea break — often opting for my soy flat white and a different muffin depending on my mood. I’ve so far tried the berry banana muffin and the blueberry, both of which were very tasty, and had a lovely buttery consistency that makes them crumble deliciously in the mouth. When opting for takeaway I am always given a wooden knife, which I much prefer to plastic alternatives, and then dining in they serve your food on cute round boards with adorable animal utensils that really suit the playful atmosphere. The interior décor is like a modern playhouse, very energetic and bright while managing to still come across as stylish. I love it! In addition to all of this, the staff are vibrant and incredibly friendly — be sure to pay them a visit.

Awesome food, very good coffee and friendly staff. This Auckland gem is a great stop if you are planning a trip to the South Pacific or reading the Sunday papers. World class. Try the tomato soup

Found this place as part of my ongoing quest to search for a hiding spot in Auckland with wifi connection and good coffee.
Stumbled across this place as to my surprise, many places in CBD do not offer free wifi. Sorry correction, good coffee shops according to Metro review.
This place is easily missed, has a very low key entrance. Has a modern décor, good lighting, good amount of seats. I had to wait for ~5 min then 4 tables all opened up.
The menu is like many other café, but they put emphasis on being organic.
Coffee is from Coffee Lab with expected good quality.
They have some interesting drinks. I see there is cold brew on the menu, maybe will try this in the summer.
The best thing is there is free Wifi, with decent speed!

I can’t believe this place only has 5 reviews!
The Shelf came recommended to us from a book I found on Amazon Prime, written by a local New Zealander for tourists who really didn’t do this place justice at all! We are visiting from California and New York and heard about the prevalent «coffee culture» of New Zealand so wanted to try as many places as possible.
The Shelf definitely sets itself apart. First thing I noticed is the way they present their drinks/​food/​dishes. Whether it’s the cup, the dish, or the tea pot — you can tell that they put a lot of love into their food and thought into how it is presented. These small details set them apart. Even the toilet paper hanger is cute.
They definitely have «regulars» that patronize this establishment as I was skipped over in line — «uh, excuse me?» This was a minor setback — I did feel unimportant and hence why no 5 stars.
Regardless, the ginger lemon home made tea that I ordered was amazing. Presentation is very unique and original. My tea came with a sand timer so I know when its ready to drink. #genius
I ordered the smoked salmon benedict and was impressed and completely satisfied. Poached eggs were cooked perfectly!
If you are in Auckland, this place is a must try and comes highly recommended!

Came here for a drink before going to a game on a Sunday, around 4pm and this place is almost full house!
My partner had a fresh juice. Taste great but it’s the smallest juice I see… I can finish it in one sip. I prefer my ice latte which comes in 4 components, a shot of coffee, milk, syrup, and coffee ice! I had fun putting this coffee together and taste great too.

One of my favourite places to have brunch. The Shelf never lets me down. They have a wide variety of cabinet food and also a great menu with lots of choices. If you are a coffee lover this is the place to go. They have all sorts of cool gadgets for cold brew, my favourite is their mocha. The chocolate comes separately so you can add the amount yourself :) the presentation for the meals are super cute as well!

I popped in here not knowing what to expect aside from hoping they’d have tea. It’s a little hard to tell from the outside what kind of a place it is.
They do have several different tea varieties as well as some herbal iced ones. Since Earl Grey is my poison I asked if I could get it iced. I was given a tea pot of very good tea and a big cup of ice. Perfect as that makes a lot of iced tea!
There is free wifi — whoo hoo!
I didn’t offer any food but the cakes and such in the case looked scrumptious.

As a fellow Unilocaler has commented in a previous review «This place is a bomb. I want to become a regular !! «. I totally agree! If only i were still an inner city dweller. Regardless it is so tempting to stop on the way home from work, as it is kind of en route… And now it opens Sundays too, as before quite often we would head into town on only Sundays and always if walking past would want to try it out but unfortunately always shut, until now. I think it may have been because so many people had been asking the owner why she never open on a Sunday… so she told us. Firstly upon entering the staff welcome you and i felt the atmosphere within very welcoming and relaxing. It has small tables for two near the door, some more like bar tops and stools and at the rear of the café some small booths. The décor is kinda neat too and i would not say no to it in my house… shelves and more shelves, the menus are bound in wooden binders and on one shelves an array of different coffee implements are displayed. The menu for cold and hot drinks has also been drawing on the wall opposite the counter in cartoon form. I ordered a cappuccino and my other half a Shelf homemade lemon ginger tea. It shows that, as displayed on the wall, this café has some of the best baristas in the country (numerous barista competition awards are displayed) as both drinks were well presented and taste just perfect. Talking of the baristas they have cartoon like face potraits displayed on the wall. While sitting there i noticed a couple getting an order that came over as a small jug of milk, glass with ice, and small shot glasses of coffee etc. This turned out that this is how they served thier iced coffees. you get given the «ingredients «and mix as you wish. Being a coffee-​holic and unable to resist, despite having just had a cappuccino i ordered an iced macchiato, and out it came, mixed it all up and turned out one delicious concoction. We did not try any food this time, though it looked good what was being brought out to others so will have to next time. All in all, top marks for the service, drinks and the atmosphere. I could have sat there all day if i could have. Well worth it.