If you haven’t yet seen Excelso Coffee’s new ‘Expresso and Soft Brew Bar’ at the bottom of Third Avenue West, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!

I always love some good before and after photos, and I think these are our best yet!

Excelso Coffee has for 20 years occupied a warehouse space divided into two separate areas – one side housing an impressive coffee roaster and storage for beans, and the other a cramped, narrow area for a coffee counter, retail display and office with a mismatch of make-do furniture, exposed cabling and a “tradies” toilet leaving the space feeling dark, cluttered and unfinished…

The client wanted to start from scratch to create a trendy new cafe space with natural materiality that felt fresh, clean, light and bright. They liked the raw, industrial aesthetic so popular in many recent cafe fit-outs, but felt it was being overdone in Tauranga and wanted to create something a bit different… so here’s what we came up with: