Vivace Espresso Akaroa is a small espresso bar at 58 Rue Lavaud, tucked in behind Arkwright's in Akaroa's harbourside main street. It keeps the focus firmly on coffee, open from 9am to 5pm every day of the week and pouring the full set of espresso classics: short and long black, cappuccino, Americano and mochaccino.
When the sun is out over the harbour, the iced side of the menu takes over, with iced latte, iced Americano, iced coffee, iced chocolate and an iced peach black tea for anyone giving coffee a miss. It's a compact, no-fuss line-up that covers both the morning jump-start and the afternoon cool-down.
Vivace appears on the Waffle Haus website alongside the group's other Akaroa ventures, the Waffle Haus restaurant and the Akaroa Creperie, making it a natural coffee stop before or after exploring the town.
Vivace Espresso Akaroa keeps things refreshingly simple: proper espresso, poured daily, in the middle of one of New Zealand's prettiest harbour towns. You'll find the coffee bar at 58 Rue Lavaud, tucked in behind Arkwright's, with the doors open from 9am to 5pm, every single day of the week.
The name tells you the story. This is an espresso bar first and foremost, and the menu reads exactly the way regulars want it to: the full set of espresso standards, hot and iced, with nothing baffling and nothing pretentious. Whether you're after a brisk shot before a day of exploring or something cold and tall for a sunny afternoon, the line-up has it covered.
Vivace pours every espresso variety you'd hope for. Purists can order a short black straight up, or stretch it into a long black for a longer, gentler drink. The Americano follows the same idea, lengthening espresso with hot water into a smooth, easy-drinking cup. The cappuccino is the classic milk option, espresso rounded out with steamed milk, while the mochaccino brings chocolate into the picture for anyone who likes their coffee with a sweeter streak. It's a compact menu, but it covers the whole spectrum of how people actually drink coffee, from no-nonsense black to chocolate-topped comfort.
Akaroa's sunny stretches call for something cold, and the iced menu is ready: iced latte and iced Americano for the coffee faithful, iced coffee and iced chocolate for everyone else. The wildcard is the iced peach black tea, a fruit-forward refresher that gives non-coffee drinkers a proper reason to come along. It's the rare coffee menu where a tea drinker and an espresso devotee end up equally satisfied.
Vivace Espresso Akaroa appears on the Waffle Haus website alongside the group's other Akaroa ventures, the Waffle Haus restaurant and the Akaroa Creperie. Waffle Haus has built part of its reputation on its self-described 'world famous' food challenge: finish 18 waffles within one hour — 14 for women — and the all-you-can-eat cost is refunded, with a $50 Waffle Haus voucher on top. The waffles are plain fresh Belgian waffles served with icing sugar and maple syrup, up to four at a time, and the rules are strict: no sharing, no doggie bags, no feeding the seagulls. The challenge runs at Waffle Haus Akaroa and at New Regent Street in Christchurch, needs to be booked in advance, and comes with a genuine leaderboard — the record currently stands at 17 waffles. You need no such bravado for an ordinary visit, though: all-you-can-eat waffles are available at all times, no attempt required.
The practical details are easy. The address is 58 Rue Lavaud, and the bar sits behind Arkwright's, so look past the main shopfront when you arrive. Opening hours run 9am to 5pm, daily, which makes it an easy morning stop before the day's wandering or an afternoon reset between walks. Because it closes at five, late-afternoon coffee plans are best made earlier in the day.
Small, straightforward and dependable, Vivace Espresso Akaroa does the simple things well: a proper short black when you need waking up, a cappuccino when you don't, and an iced peach black tea when the sun is doing its thing. In a harbour town built for strolling, that's exactly the kind of stop worth keeping in your pocket.