World’s 100 best coffee shops list features Hamilton’s Rocket Coffee Roasters

From left to right: Glen Woodcock and Glen Crompton, best friends and co-owners of the Rocket Coffee Roasters in Hamilton. Photo / Malisha Kumar

A Waikato coffee shop has been named among the world’s best – as the only one from New Zealand.

Rocket Coffee Roasters, from Hamilton, features in the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list which was released during this year’s running of the annual CoffeeFest in Spain.

The Hamilton coffee shop came in No 62, before The Dude Specialty Coffee in Macedonia in No 63 and just after El Union Coffee in The Philippines in No 61.

Rocket Coffee Roasters was founded by best friends-turne-business partners Glen Crompton and Glen Woodcock in 1995, who were ready for their own venture after working as a barista and a chef.

They “uniquely” offer just coffee, Crompton said, which helped build customer relationships.

“We know our strengths and don’t get sidetracked by other stuff, so people come here because they just want good coffee.”

Crompton said it was exciting for Hamilton to get “global” recognition.

“We are incredibly proud to represent New Zealand on the world stage. This ranking is a testament to our passion and dedication over the years, and it’s a reflection of the hard work ... that we put into every cup.

“We’re thrilled to share this achievement with the community that has been behind us from the start.”

Fresh out of high school, the duo met in Auckland through flatmates, when Crompton was brought around for “a show and tell”, Woodcock said with a laugh, and they immediately became friends.

Figuring out their next steps in life, Woodcock went to Queenstown, and Crompton went overseas, but they remained in close contact.

Glen Crompton outside Rocket Coffee Roasters in Hamilton. Photo / Malisha Kumar

It was in Queenstown where Woodcock first came in touch with roasted coffee.

He said as a young lad, he didn’t realise that “coffee doesn’t come all ready to drink” and was intrigued by the process behind it.

Woodcock and Crompton eventually returned to Hamilton and at the age of 24 decided to make coffee their life.

With Crompton working at a cafe, the duo pooled their skills and resources together to roast their own coffee and open a store.

They found an old building on the corner of Hood and Victoria Sts and leased it for less than $200 a week.

The lease was fixed for two years – a “bloody long time”, Woodcock thought, especially since coffee roasters were quite a niche business at the time and they didn’t know if their venture was going to be successful.

The colours on the coffee bags represent the countries the coffee beans have been sourced from. Photo / Malisha Kumar

“But with rent at just $150 a week ... and a block of butter being $2, we thought we’ll just sit here and drink coffee until rent runs out if it fails,” Woodcock said.

In 1995, they purchased a coffee roaster, taught themselves how to roast coffee and were ready to launch.

When they first opened, Crompton said it took about one month to go through 60kg of coffee. Those days are long gone – now, they go through at least 150kg of coffee per day.

Initially starting with three flavours from Kenya, Papua New Guinea, and Colombia, they now roasted a total of almost 300 “unique blends” of coffee.

When it comes to their beans, Woodcock and Crompton said ethical and sustainable sourcing was important to them.

The roastery of Hamilton's Rocket Coffee Roasters. Photo / Malisha Kumar

In 2008, Rocket Coffee Roasters moved to its current location at 302 Barton St.

Looking back on the past 30 years, the duo said they were proud to be part of the “evolution of New Zealand coffee”.

Crompton said they didn’t have any big plans for the future.

“This is what we do, and we’ll just keep doing it.

“We’ve done the same thing all this time, but we have tried to get better every year and embrace new technology, and we’ll continue to upskill.”

Woodcock added: “I think you never really master what you do, and always try to perfect things so it’s good to keep going.”

In the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list, the top spot was taken out by Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters in Australia, followed by Onyx Coffee LAB in the US, and Gota Coffee Experts in Austria.

The list was compiled through a public voting system as well as a panel of coffee experts who ranked coffee shops according to criteria including experience, bean sourcing and roasting.

Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.