Could Northland be NZ's coffee-growing capital?

Commercial coffee growing in Aotearoa is still an emerging industry, but work is underway to expand in Northland.

In 2020, RNZ spoke to New Zealand's only commercial coffee plantation, Ikraus Coffee.

Fast forward to late last year, the New Zealand Coffee Producers Association has held its first inaugural conference and its chairman, Peter Shepherd, said it now has nine members.

Shepherd said it was early days but compared the coffee growing sector to New Zealand's wine industry 50 years ago.

He said there were now about 7000 plants in the ground and another 5000 to 10,000 being incubated.

"We have got MPI funding for a range of trials to try different sites across Northland to see what types of soils are going to be the most optimal for growing coffee.

"We have also organised another conference this year and we are going to get in an expert from Kona in Hawaii, who will tell us from his experience how to not only grow, but to process the coffee to develop those special high-value characteristics of the coffee," he said.

MPI is investing up to $486,000 in phase two of the investigation into the feasibility of growing coffee in Northland through its Māori Agribusiness Extension Programme.

The work began in October 2025 and involves testing coffee trees at a larger scale, with the trials expected to run until March 2028.

MPI's acting director Māori agribusiness directorate, Māori partnerships and investment Haines Ellison said the ministry was supporting the initiative because of its potential to diversify land use and the opportunity for smaller land blocks to have a high‑value crop.

Shepherd said growers were also working to expand on the types of coffee grown in the region.

"We are getting in varieties [of Arabica] such as Geisha, SL34, Tabi and others, which are disease resistant, but also the ones winning all these awards around the world."

He said New Zealand growers would focus on producing high-value coffee beans - and that meant doing things differently.

"One thing you do to develop the high-value flavours with coffee is to ferment it with yeast, so we are in discussions with the wine and beer industry who have a lot of expertise to collaborate with them."

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