Comforting escape from the hustle and bustle
To escape the capital’s weekday hustle and bustle, Extra Extra Cafe offers a piano to play, a jigsaw puzzle to chip away at and Dirty Donuts for an end-of-week treat.
The spacious cafe on Panama St attracts workers in central Wellington with a steady group of regulars who are almost “like our alarm clock”, says owner and barista Jess Nguyen.
“We have the same customers, they don’t change their seat at all, they’re there on the dot at the same time, pretty much like another family.”
Some were from the first day the cafe opened and have continued to be familiar faces after Nguyen took over the business from a friend about a year and a half ago.
She had always been in customer-facing roles and loved talking to customers.
“Sometimes I think you just need someone to listen to your story without judging, that’s what we’re here for.”
Like many other cafes nowadays, an oat flat white was a staple order, followed by a flat white with cow’s milk and just a straight punchy long black.
If asked for the “K Special Drink”, Nguyen would recommend either the matcha latte or ube latte – both of which were increasing in popularity.
Matcha was Japanese green tea, popular for its high antioxidant content, whilst ube was a purple yam, popular in Filipino desserts, Nguyen said.
It made a vibrant purple drink which tasted similar to taro but was creamy and almost like vanilla.
After 12 years of living in Wellington, Nguyen was used to the Wellington coffee culture, compared to coffee in her home country in Vietnam.
Vietnamese coffee was a lot stronger and was made almost like a filter coffee.
While she could have two to three Kiwi coffees a day, one Vietnamese coffee was plenty, she said.
Extra Extra Cafe was also known for its Thursday and Friday vegan doughnuts supplied by Dirty Donuts – a real treat to end the working week. The cafe often sells out of them.
Nguyen’s favourite was the apple fritter doughnut.
Two rooms connected to the main cafe could be hired for meetings, or sometimes people would come down just to have a coffee and play the piano while other customers paused to watch and listen.
Others would stand at the counter to add their contribution to completing the puzzle which rotated regularly.
Running a cafe came with its challenges with the current economy, particularly with minimum wage going up and prices of products such as milk increasing but ultimately Nguyen was a people person and that wasn’t something that could be taught, she said.
“We’re here just to provide good service to customers ... It’s a good way to get out of the office and get a little break and breather from their busy work lives.”
Extra Extra Cafe is open 6am to 4pm on Monday to Wednesday and 6am to 3pm on Thursday and Friday. A flat white is $5.50 – add $1 for alternative milks and $6.50 for the tumeric, matcha and ube lattes.
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