It’s all about micro roasters, cold brew coffee and manual brewing for Java junkies.
Compared to other countries around the world, South Africa is still a relatively low consumer of coffee. However, in the last five years, there has been huge shift away from instant coffee to using pods and whole beans, according to Warren Machanik from online coffee retailer, Quaffee. Another major trend he cites is that the number of micro roasters has also increased dramatically.
Lee Anderson, owner, Green Bean Coffee, agrees. “There is growing awareness and support of quality, specialty coffee, and the biggest indicator is the growth of micro roasters − I estimate there must be over 100 now throughout SA,” she says.
This love of coffee is not always good news for your wallet, though. Cuth Bland, Bean There Coffee Company, says that the price of good-quality green coffee is definitely going up. “It’s not just an exchange rate conversion problem, but the dollar price of green coffee has doubled for some of our coffees from one season to the next,” she says.
Phaedon Gourtsoyannis, founder, Cape Coffee Beans, says that an emerging trend is purchasing coffee beans online and having them delivered to your door. “At Cape Coffee Beans, we deliver hundreds of bags of freshly roasted coffee all over the country each month,” says Phaedon.
Around 50 to 60% of our orders come from Gauteng, and Sandton specifically seems to be a hot spot for lovers of high-quality coffee.
Manual brewing is another trend that is growing in South Africa because it allows coffee drinkers to have delicious coffee without having to invest in expensive equipment or visit a cafe. Instead, they can purchase high-quality, artisan-roasted coffee beans and brew them to their own taste. “More South Africans are taking control of their coffee brewing by investing in manual brewing equipment like the AeroPress or Hario and Chemex pour-over brewers,” says Phaedon.
Phaedon notes that another trend is the emergence of cold brew coffee, which is brewed cold, generally over 12 to 24 hours. “In the US and Europe, ready-to-drink, bottled cold brew has been sold for many years and has become very popular in warm months among coffee aficionados,” he says. “I anticipate you’ll be seeing cold brew served at markets in and around Johannesburg this summer.”
Taste for yourself:
Quaffee 021 794 2988 quaffee.co.za
Green Bean Coffee 079 526 5223 greenbeancoffee.co.za
Bean There Coffee Company 087 310 3100 beanthere.co.za
Cape Coffee Beans 072 321 8315 capecoffeebeans.co.za
This article originally appeared in Neighbourhood, Sunday Times.