Supreme Supreme has become a favourite coffee haven for Christchurch residents over the past 18 months. Its South Island General Manager Steve McGregor says having a staple place for Christchurch coffee and foodie lovers to “come together and enjoy some good hospitality” is exactly what the city needs.
“Christchurch is still rebuilding following the 2011 earthquake. Although we can’t quite see the finish line yet, we can start to see the new city and its potential, and that’s really exciting,” Steve says.
Supreme Supreme was established in 2015 as the company’s South Island flagship store. “It’s become a place for everyone to call home. We wanted it to be a hospitality venue rather than just a standard coffee place, with a core focus on delivering what you should expect from a good café,” Steve says.
Those expectations include table service – no lining up at the counter required – and delicious comfort food that’s styled “very loosely” on America-diner cuisine.
On the front bar is an espresso menu featuring all the regular Supreme favourites. On the back bar is a Fetco thermal pot with two single origins rotating at the one time. Coffee for V60 pour over and Chemex are also available. Steve describes the Supreme House blend as “an old favourite” that the company has offered to customers from day one.
“It’s changed over the years, but it has beautiful milk chocolate notes, a fruitiness through the middle, and crisp, clean acidity to finish. It’s an elegant all-rounder – smooth with milk, and quite complex and interesting as a black that suits any brew method,” he says.
The venue building is a large 400-square-metre space that was once home to the original 1950s Land Rover dealership in Christchurch. As such, Supreme Supreme retained the roughly treated floor, exposed beams, timber furnishings, and large amounts of natural light, which Steve says appears “more utilitarian than industrial”.
“I love the environment I work in,” he says. “We have a wicked crew, and I’m proud to go to work alongside them each day.”