Black Betty, Christchurch

Coffee is about rebuilding your life.

Visiting Christchurch, Black Betty is one of the first cafés a local will think of when we ask for a recommendation. Opened in February 2011 by veteran barista Hamish Evans, the café had to shut down three weeks later when the earthquake struck.

Undeterred, Evans reopened Black Betty as a pop-up seven weeks later when most other businesses were still closed. The new Black Betty is converted from a café bookshop and so attracts a young student crowd. Evans also owns Switch Espresso, a coffee roaster business, so we’re able to enjoy both a flat white and a siphon brew when we drop by Black Betty.

The Shakshouka is one of the best we’ve tried: the eggs are perfectly baked in a spiced tomato sauce strewn with little nuggets chorizo and spinach. Try their French Toast Crumpets too, with grilled apricot and Doris plums, white cheese, and maple syrup; or with some crispy bacon, grilled banana, and maple syrup.

Black Betty appears to be always bustling, a pretty good sign of the times for a recovering Christchurch. Given its tenacity (another trait it shares with the city), there’s little wonder it was named Christchurch’s best café. One not to be missed when you’re in town, certainly.

如果你是一名咖啡客，而又剛巧來到基督城，
有一家咖啡館是你絕不容錯過的，那就是Black Betty Café。
Black Betty Café於2011年2月開業，
可惜的是開業不久就遭逢大地震，
但老闆并沒有就此放棄；在等待修復的幾個月當兒，
他以pop-up咖啡館的形式繼續為大眾帶來好咖啡。

我們到訪的是重新出發后的Black Betty，
簡單卻不失格調的裝潢，加上深獲好評的食物和咖啡，
（她可是Zest Food Awards 2014的最佳咖啡館呢！）
吸引了許多慕名而來的人們。
飢腸轆轆的我們先點了兩份早點，外加一杯手沖黑咖啡和卡布。
看著忙碌的咖啡師們，我還挺擔心費時的虹吸咖啡會有失水準。
結果是我多慮了，無論我的哥倫比亞還是馬少的卡布都非常的對味，
加上兩份美味的早餐，為我們在基督城的短暫逗留增添了幾許難忘的回憶。