Gate-crashed a catch-up between my husband and an old colleague for this one, but once again I’d been driving for hours and really needed a cup of tea.

Serenity cafe in the Whangarei Town Basin is a favourite, mainly because of it’s sublime beef-and-mushroom pies. The tea’s not bad either.

My marks out of 10?

CUP 3:– Look at it – heavy, flat, everything you don’t want in a teacup.

TEA 7: English breakfast – (true story, during the British Lions rugby tour this year I saw a team supporter order an English breakfast thinking he was getting a cooked breakfast. He was horrified to learn he’d order a cup of tea – he didn’t even drink the stuff!).

SETTING 7: The Town Basin is lovely. This cafe is back from the water, next to the clock museum gardens.

Serenity Cafe, 45 Quayside, Whangarei.