The Waterview Coffee Project is a small, purpose-driven coffee stop on Daventry Street in Waterview, Auckland — part café, part smokehouse counter, part neighbourhood record shop. It runs as a social enterprise under the Point Chevalier Social Enterprise Trust, with a clear two-part mission: serve genuinely great coffee, and give Waterviewers a place to connect in a neighbourhood the team describes as underserved when it comes to interesting food options.
The coffee is poured from beans roasted by Riley Coffee Roasters, a local roastery based in nearby Avondale with roots right here in Waterview. The short hot-food menu is deliberate rather than sprawling: the Bacon & Egg Buttie — scrambled egg and crispy bacon piled onto a buttered, toasted Wild Wheat breakfast muffin, with tomato chutney, kewpie mayo or HP Sauce — is already, by the team's own telling, becoming the stuff of legend. Toasties come loaded with cheddar, parmesan and chive-infused cream cheese on thick toast, served with gherkins and chutney. Freshly hot-smoked salmon, vacuum-packed and available every day at the coffee container, rounds out the offer.
There is more here than coffee and food. Vinyl records and CDs are part of the mix, food trucks and Waterview Saturday markets form a regular part of the calendar, and a mailing list keeps locals across event schedules, fresh salmon batches, exclusive deals and new record arrivals. The team describes itself as just getting started — a project still building community and adding value to make Waterview an even better place to live.
On Daventry Street in Waterview, a residential pocket of central-west Auckland, The Waterview Coffee Project runs a small but busy operation: part coffee stop, part smokehouse counter, part neighbourhood record shop. It is not a typical commercial café. The project is a social enterprise, created to give Waterview what the team felt it lacked — great coffee, interesting food and a genuine place for locals to connect.
The project operates under the Point Chevalier Social Enterprise Trust, and the team is clear about its priorities. Great coffee comes first, but so does connection: the goal is a welcoming spot where Waterviewers can meet and catch up. Alongside that sits a second mission — bringing interesting food options to a neighbourhood the team describes as underserved. They describe themselves as "just getting started", promising more community-minded ideas as the project grows, and the calendar already reflects that intent, with food trucks, Saturday markets and other local events forming a regular part of the programme.
The coffee is poured from beans roasted by Riley Coffee Roasters, a roastery based in nearby Avondale with roots right here in Waterview. It is a deliberately local partnership — beans roasted minutes away rather than shipped in from a distant supplier — and it anchors the drinks menu. The full coffee and hot-food menu is published online through the project's ordering platform, so you can check the current line-up before you visit.
The kitchen keeps things short but deliberate. The Bacon & Egg Buttie has quickly become the signature — butter is slathered onto a Wild Wheat breakfast muffin, toasted until golden, then piled with scrambled egg and several rashers of crispy bacon. Tomato chutney, kewpie mayo and HP Sauce are on standby, and the team freely admits these butties are already "becoming the stuff of legend".
The toasties aim higher than the usual café default. Melty cheddar and tangy parmesan are layered with chive-infused cream cheese on thick toast, with optional onion, ham or tomatoes, and served with gherkins and chutney. It is simple food, done with a bit of intent.
The quiet standout is the hot-smoked salmon. Freshly smoked and sold vacuum-packed, it is available every day at the coffee container — a genuine smokehouse product in a neighbourhood coffee setting. Because batches are fresh rather than stockpiled, the team invites customers to text 026 650 6049 to check availability before making a special trip. It works just as well in a lunchbox as it does on a platter at home, and regulars watch the mailing list for news of fresh batches.
Unusually for a coffee stop, there is also a record habit. The Waterview Coffee Project sells vinyl records and CDs, with new arrivals announced to the mailing list alongside event updates and exclusive deals. The calendar matters here, too: food trucks, Waterview Saturday markets and other community events are all part of the mix, and the newsletter is the most reliable way to know which trucks are visiting and when.
Payments are straightforward, with card options including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay and Google Pay supported.
For a small container operation, a lot is going on: a social enterprise with a stated mission, locally roasted coffee, a hot-food menu with genuine signature dishes, daily smoked salmon, and a shelf of records to browse while you wait. Whether you come for a buttie, a pack of salmon or a crate-dig, you will also be doing something the project was built for — showing up for a neighbourhood café that gives back to Waterview.