The New Zealand Coffee Festival is this weekend and it is a time when Kiwis come together to celebrate the good stuff.
As a big nation of coffee drinkers, each of us drinking more than both Australians and Americans, this year's fourth annual festival is set to be bigger than ever.
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On site is De'Longhi coffee ambassador Giovanni Infantino, who was raised in Sicily where he says he grew up watching his grandfather make coffee for his customers at his Delicatessen in Caltanisetta. He then worked in a bar as a barista in Italy during his teen years.
"My first memory of the coffee flavour was from the Tiramisu which I had for the first time at only six years old," he told Newshub.
"Tiramisu is a classic dessert in Italy and this is where my love for the coffee flavour began. Following that, I first started drinking espresso at nine years old which is quite young but it is a very common dessert in Italy.
"My mum would make the espresso and put in the freezer in summer time, we add sugar and cream to this and it's for after a meal, never during. The perfect dessert."
But he says that while Kiwis are big on buying that perfect coffee, they should be getting more into making their own.
"Owning your own manual coffee machine offers the chance to be creative and create yourself a quality cup of coffee. It's better than any coffee shop and you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself and enjoying it in your own space with people that you love," he said.
"That aside in the long term it's cost effective, essentially 25 cents a shot, much better than paying $5 a day for a coffee you can easily make yourself."
Infantino, who says he drinks around five to seven coffees a day, will be teaching at the De'Longhi 'Be Your Own Barista Bar' coffee stand so festival goers can "see how easy it is to be their own barista".
If you don't like a hot brew, there will also be the biggest espresso cocktail menu in the world at the bar, various food stalls, and plenty of New Zealand coffee brads, like Flight, Supreme and AllPress.
The New Zealand Coffee Festival takes place over March 15 and 16.
Newshub.
