walking . is . overrated

The battle of the coffee chains has begun.

Shortly after CloseUp’s story on this site on TV One last night, I received an email from an Esquires staff member, promising a vastly superior experience to the one I had at Starbucks, which is located in the same building. So I had to go check it out, and I’m pleased to report: he was right!

For a start, it’s a heck of a lot easier to access Esquires, as there are no entry doors whatsoever. There is a door leading out to the outside courtyard but this is an automatic sliding door. Genius! I must admit I didn’t actually sit outside, but it looked nice and spacious and the tables were round and at a good height.

They also seem to have a much nicer selection of food (Oreo cheesecake, anyone?), but owing to my tight budget I just got a flat white. At $4.30 it’s not the cheapest around, but it was a large serving with a double shot and, being the flat white snob I am, definitely scored a pass mark! It probably wasn’t in the upper eschelon of coffees, but nonetheless much nicer than Starbucks, in my opinion anyway.

True to the email author’s word, there was none of the can’t-quite-reach-the-counter shenanigans that I encountered at Starbucks, the friendly (if a tad underwhelming) staff brought it over, along with a free 1-hour Wi-Fi prepay voucher, which is excellent if you’re not an Xtra customer! The table was at a good height, and the staff offered to move the chairs away for me, which was nice of them too. So all in all, I was very impressed.

My tip? If you have to choose one of the coffee chains around Aotea Square, go Esquires. They’re accessible, friendly, and fair trade!

THE LOWDOWN:

• Good selection of food, yum (if a little expensive) coffee
• Outside area accessible via automatic sliding door - finally someone in that building gets it right!
• Coffee brought over to you, whether you’re disabled or not
• Free Wi-Fi hotspot voucher with every purchase
• No accessible toilet - again, you have to use the ones in the complex (with the excessively heavy doors)
• Overall accessibility rating: 4 / 5