Brazil cafe closes
by Justin Henehan
One of my favourite things in the world has come to an end - Karangahape Road’s infamous Brazil cafe.
After 12 years, brothers Dominic and Simon Taylor have decided to pack it in.
With the various commitments of life catching up with them, Dominic says anything less than one hundred per cent commitment would sell Brazil short.
They leave behind a legion of loyal Krd regulars and the legacy if a creative hub.
My first experience of Brazil was around 1997 when, as a wide-eyed 17-year-old, I wandered in off the street on a whim.
It was the roughness of the place I liked; all brushed steel and worn wood, the up-lit narrow walls and vaulted ceiling covered in strange patterns made by the peeling paint.
I innocently ordered a flat white and watched the barista extract the coffee from the home-made tangle of tubes and levers like he was pulling a pint.
Little did I know I was about to be savagely mauled by the strongest coffee imaginable.
I remember bouncing out into the street, my dilated pupils struggling against the caffeine to adjust to the grey-white glare of the world outside. I was hooked, instantly.
Jamie Ritchie, a cycle courier, has been hooked since Brazil opened in 1995.
He says he doesn’t know where he’ll go now: “No one else’s coffee even comes close, and they never minded a whole pack of stinky bike couriers coming in.”
I guess I was one of those regulars – I’ve been going there for ten years now. What brought me back again and again is its bike friendliness, the unmatched coffee strength and good music.
A wake for Brazil will be held Wine Cellar in St Kevin’s Arcade at some stage - I’ll keep you posted.