Cyclista Espresso Bar and Roastery

Get on your bike - this Palmerston North café is not one to be missed, whether you’re a keen cyclist, a coffee aficionado, or a bit of both. 

Set in the heart of trendy George Street, Cyclista was born out of owners Steve and Katherine’s shared passion for cycling. The theme here hardly needs any explaining - everywhere you turn, you’re greeted with a poster, map, or one of the myriad cycling-related memorabilia that the pair have carefully positioned around the café. Real vintage bicycles hang from the walls, and if you want to take a piece of the action home, just pick from the various bits of cycling merch spilling from the shelves.

You’d be forgiven for forgetting that the place is, first and foremost, a café. Thankfully, the team is equally as skilled behind the coffee machine as they are on the track. The coffee here, all roasted in-house, is renowned across town, and the food menu is surprisingly extensive for a relatively compact space. Take your pick from savoury options such as cheese scones, bagels, and toasties to the range of sweet pick-me-ups, including homemade slices, muffins and porridge.

A unique and much-loved coffee spot for scores of Palmerston North locals, Cyclista certainly does a great job of standing out from the rest. The café is a living testament to the fact that, in many cases, having a genuine passion for something and unapologetically sharing it with the world can be a key to success.