Don Luciano / Gracias Roastery — Carl's Rural Road Stops

Don Luciano Café

Corner King & Chapel Streets, Masterton · Wairarapa

Gracias coffee, crispy chicken tacos — and a room that feels like it's been here a while

Mexican chocolate cookies, salted caramel slice, rocky road, hedgehog — a cabinet worth deliberating over

Don Luciano breakfast — bacon and mushrooms in a creamy sauce with a coffee

My breakfast, late July — bacon and mushrooms in a creamy sauce, with a Gracias coffee alongside

Don Luciano bacon and waffles with maple syrup

My grandson's breakfast, mid July — bacon and waffles with maple syrup

Katherine and Janitha behind the bar — they know their coffee and they know their regulars

Iced matcha with berry base and a slab of rocky road — Masterton's not short on options when you stop here

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The Café

Don Luciano sits in the heart of Masterton. Good food, Gracias coffee, and a team that gives a damn. The kind of place that earns return visits without trying too hard.

The People

Marvin opened Don Luciano in December 2017, then passed the running of the café to his chef Ap. Katherine pours the coffee, Janitha's in the kitchen, and the regulars keep coming back for both of them.

What Makes It Worth Stopping

The cabinet alone is worth the detour. The brekkie earns its name. And the coffee in the cup — roasted small-batch by Marvin himself, right here on-site — tastes exactly like someone cared about how it was made. Which they did.

Carl's Note

"Walked in for a coffee and stayed longer than planned. That matcha drink caught my eye — not what I expected from a Wairarapa café. The cabinet was serious. And once I knew the coffee in the cup was roasted around the corner by the same bloke who started the whole thing — it made sense. Marvin's got something real here."

Gracias Roastery

Roasted on-site · Don Luciano, Masterton

In-House Roastery · Small Batch · Single Origin

Gracias Roastery — freshly roasted beans, branded bags and a flat white on the bench

The Origin La Flor — Strictly High Ground. Honduran single-origin beans, sourced direct from a childhood friend who grows and exports from the same land Marvin's grandfather farmed.

Green coffee sacks on the roastery floor — La Flor Strictly High Ground from Honduras

The Roaster Marvin's Probat roaster at work. Small batches, watched closely, roasted the way he likes it — so the beans blend beautifully with milk. Sweet, chocolatey, stays with you.

The Probat roaster — Marvin's machine on the floor in Masterton

The Bags Three roasts, each built around how they sit with milk. Buy a bag at the café, or order online and get it delivered fresh to your door at graciascoffee.co.nz

Gracias Roastery — three roasts: Mamu Dora, The Don, and Decaf

The Machine La Marzocco behind the bar. The coffee that comes out of it was grown by someone Marvin has known all his life. That's a short supply chain by any measure.

La Marzocco espresso machine behind the bar at Don Luciano

The Cup From a farm in Honduras to a cup in Masterton. Roasted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays — pull up a seat and watch it happen.

Gracias Roastery — The Don bag beside a flat white on the bench

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From Honduras to Masterton

Marvin Guerrero grew up in Honduras. He met a New Zealand woman in Orlando, followed her home, and married her twenty-one years ago. He opened Don Luciano Café in December 2017, and when the time was right, he handed it to Ap so he could do the thing he'd always wanted to do: roast coffee exactly the way he likes it.

Small batches. On-site. On a Probat roaster. Roasted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays — pull up a seat and watch it happen.

He sources his beans from a childhood friend who grows and exports coffee in Honduras — the same country, the same altitude, the same soil his grandfather farmed. Single origin. Sustainable. Direct from farmers he knows and trusts.

Marvin roasts his beans so they blend beautifully with milk — a sweet, chocolatey cup that stays with you long after the first sip. Coffee the way it was always meant to taste.

You can buy a bag at the café, or order online and get it delivered fresh to your door.

Find Gracias Roastery online at graciascoffee.co.nz