Riverlution Café

In an unassuming corner of Christchurch, you'll find a cleared two acres of peace and joy, and with it, Riverlution Café. Follow the river alongside Vogel Street in Richmond, then take a dirt path into a community-minded ecological park that's part garden, part workplace, part spot to disappear with a good book. The little iron shed is the heartbeat of it all.

Post-earthquakes, the city's east side slipped down the priority list, so locals reactivated the old kitchen garden beside Avebury House. A red-stickered home handed over for a dollar gave the project a base, and Richmond Community Garden now shares the site with recycling, trapping and river cleanups. Keeping these endeavours (and a Saturday farmers market) caffeinated is Riverlution: corrugated iron, roller door and all.

Step up on the deck to pluck a coffee from a galley barely wider than the machine. Take a sip from mismatched vintage china amongst the kids' drawings, or head out to sit under the cabbage trees with something from the cabinet.

RAD Roasting Co is largely responsible for the outrageously good brew, with milks at no extra cost and garden teas for the non-drinkers. Sustenance arrives from Bellbird and Scoundrel: cheese scones, cinnamon scrolls, a parkrun muffin. When it's balmy out, Riverlution's real fruit ice cream is a hit, because the fruit is grown on site. Feijoas are raided from the tree out front, and purple peaches are picked in the 48-hour window when the whole neighbourhood ripens at once, then frozen to last the year.

Though Riverlution doesn't run to make a profit, nobody is a volunteer. Everyone is paid, and people who have not worked in a while can use the environment to find their feet. Manaakitanga is the working principle, so you are welcome whether you have come for lunch or only for directions, as a solo wanderer or three generations on a family day out.

They always reckoned the revolution wouldn't be televised; in fact, it's already taking place. All it took was a good garden, some spare space and Riverlution Café.