At 1/145 Colombo Street in Beckenham, Christchurch, Black & White Coffee Cartel is a specialty café and micro-roastery, with the roaster working in plain view so guests can follow each batch from green bean to cup. The house Cartel Boss blend is a medium roast pairing sweet, nutty Brazil Cerrado with cocoa-toned Honduras La Flor, and the same blend is sold in 200g and 1kg bags to take home or order online. Brunch runs all day, anchored by the big BOSS Breakfast and the classic Bacon Benny, and children receive a complimentary fluffy. The café is rated 4.1 on Google, with prices in the moderate $$ range.
There's a phrase Black & White Coffee Cartel uses that sounds almost contradictory: the funky, independent coffee shop — brought to the masses. Independence and mass-market don't usually sit together. But that tension is precisely what drives the Black & White concept, and since 2015 the chain has made a compelling case that you can scale an idea without sanitising it.
The story starts in post-earthquake Christchurch. In 2011 the Canterbury earthquake flattened large parts of the city. By 2014, founder Bink Bowler had arrived with a vision for a new kind of café — one built not just for the rebuilt city but for the future of it. His brother Luke Bowler and Canterbury rugby identity Reuben Thorne joined the founding team. In late 2014 construction began on the first store. In February 2015 it opened at 83 Victoria Street in the Christchurch city centre — loud, individual, and immediately popular. It was among the first notable new cafés to open in post-earthquake Christchurch, and it helped define the café culture of the new city.
The distinguishing feature of Black & White isn't just the aesthetic — though the deliberately louder music, mismatched furniture from different eras, brighter walls, and personalised service are all intentional. The real structural difference is in how the coffee is made.
Black & White is described as New Zealand's first micro-roasting coffee franchise. Rather than operating a centralised roastery that ships pre-roasted coffee to all stores — the standard NZ model — each full Black & White café has its own onsite coffee roaster. The coffee in your cup was roasted in that building, in full view of the guests, that day. No distribution middleman. From raw green bean to finished espresso, under one roof.
Small-batch roasting, the founders argue, produces a higher-quality result by removing unnecessary steps between origin and cup. This approach has long been common in Europe; Black & White brought it into a New Zealand franchise context.
The house blend — the Cartel Boss, a medium roast — is built from just two origins: Brazil Cerrado (natural process, soft sweet/fruit notes with a characteristic nutty overtone) and Honduras La Flor (washed, heavy cocoa notes, bright acidity). One natural, one washed; sweet meets bitter; nut meets cocoa. The blend is available to buy retail as Boss Blend beans in 200g ($12.50) and 1kg sizes, in whole bean, plunger, or espresso grind.
The food menu varies by store — intentionally so. Stores with a full brunch menu typically run all-day options including classics like bacon benny and the BOSS Breakfast alongside cabinet food: sweet (caramel slices, friands, bliss balls, muffins, scones, cheesecakes, brownies) and savoury (pies, sandwiches, filos, wraps, sausage rolls, croissants, vegetable frittata). Much of the food is prepared onsite. Most stores carry gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, vegan, and keto options. Children receive a free fluffy at all stores.
Franchise partners — Cartel Bosses — began joining from 2016. Black & White grew into one of New Zealand's fastest growing coffee franchises, with locations across the country.