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Cape Coffee Awards 2023

The Cape Coffee Awards began back in 2020, and as much as the day-to-day absurdities of that year are finally beginning to fade into distant memory, at least somewhat, we can’t deny that everyday life in 2023 still felt a little stranger than it did before the inaugural year.

Nevertheless, despite its numerous and varied troubles, there was plenty of good to be had through the last year. With that sentiment in mind, let’s take a moment to reflect by taking a look at some of the most popular items and brands in Cape Coffee Beans’ catalogue in 2023. Who doesn’t love a good listicle to round out a year?

2023 in coffee beans

This year’s Cape Coffee Awards are a bit different to those that came before it. While some categories and category winners remain unchanged, there are a few notable new champions in the mix and several exciting new categories to cover.

This year’s awards are especially different to the previous ones because we’ve decided to highlight some of the most popular brands in each award category rather than only focus on individual items. In some instances, certain brands won in both an individual item category and the overall brand category so in places you’ll see the same names coming up multiple times. In other instances, the individual products that were winners were not from the winning brands. With such a broad range of items vying for top place in each category, we thought it would be interesting to see how both our individual products and featured brands performed over the last year, and thought you might too.

Read on to learn what South African coffee fanatics loved most in 2023!

Please note that these awards are purely quantitative. They are based on the products that sold the most throughout the year and not necessarily our top picks or favourites (although many of them are).

Coffee grinders of the year

Given how vital a good grinder is to the coffee-making process, it's probably unsurprising that this is one of our favourite awards categories, particularly because freshly grinding coffee at home is usually the budding coffee enthusiast’s first step into the world of specialty coffee. This rings truer and truer as the market expands and innovates each year: after the beans themselves, a good grinder is the cornerstone of your setup, and should arguably be the first investment that you make before you start browsing new brewers.

We have become relatively spoiled for choice in recent years as the manual grinder space has grown both quantitatively and qualitatively, and there are now more options than ever for high-quality hand grinders in a range of price categories. Here are South Africa’s top picks for 2023.

Overall manual coffee grinder of the year

Timemore Chestnut C2 manual coffee grinder

Maintaining its seat as the overall winner in the grinder category three years running now was the Timemore Chestnut C2. We certainly aren’t surprised. For its price point, the C2 is classified as being on the pricier end of entry-level, but in terms of quality, it’s premium through and through.

Even if it lacks some features present in more expensive grinders, like a wider variety of grind settings, the C2 sports hardened steel conical burrs, machine cut for sharpness, and a dual bearing system that holds the inner and outer burrs stable to deliver excellent grind quality in a robust yet stylish package.

Overall manual grinder brand of the year

While Timemore isn’t exactly the new kid on the manual grinder block anymore, it’s still a relative newcomer to the category, which makes its undeniable popularity all the more impressive. In just a handful of years, at least two of which having been especially difficult for just about everyone for pandemic-related reasons, Timemore has established itself as one of the best-loved coffee grinder brands in the world, and was the most popular manual grinder brand overall at Cape Coffee Beans in 2023.

Timemore offers an impressive range of products across applications and price points, though it is best known for its C range of grinders. And, just as a good grinder should be, Timemore is consistent – consistently excellent, promising exceptional quality and value for money with every item it sells.

Premium manual coffee grinder of the year

Comandante C40 MK4 premium manual coffee grinder

Comandantes's C40 line took the win in this category yet again this year and remains the undisputed champion of the premium hand grinder category for the third year in a row. This year, same as last, saw the C40 MK4 at the top of our premium hand grinder list, which isn’t surprising given that many still consider the C40 the face of the premium hand grinder space.

Fitted with Nitro Blade burrs made from high nitrogen martensitic steel, the MK4 boasts an extremely wear-resistant burr set suitable for everything that is sure to last years before even hints of dullness begin to crop up. And, with a grind adjustment of around 60 clicks, you can fine-tune your grind to suit everything from coarse immersion brews to extra-fine espresso and Turkish coffee. The MK40 really can do it all, and do it well.

Premium manual grinder brand of the year

Comandante also came out on top in the premium manual grinder category this year, perhaps thanks to additions and upgrades to its focused range. The German brand arguably launched the premium manual coffee grinder space, being the first to offer a popular hand grinder that could cover anything from coarser French press grinds, to a classic pour-over, to espresso.

Simply put, Comandante’s stylish, handmade grinders are fantastic, and beloved by established professionals and home enthusiasts alike, both of whom are more than happy to pay a premium for the brand’s undeniable quality, hence their place in this list.

See all our manual coffee grinders here

Electric filter grinder of the year

Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

While manual hand grinders are definitely at the forefront of the filter grinding space, electric filter grinders are still popular for their convenience. Two grinders have typically fought for the top of this category: the Baratza Encore and the Severin Coffee Grinder. It seems 2023 was the Encore’s year as it unseated the Severin, last year’s winner.

Both grinders are fantastic, and their conical burr sets are actually quite similar. The major difference in features is the Encore’s 40 grind settings, over the Severin’s 10. The Encore is also fitted with a bigger motor and grinds somewhat more consistently than its competitor, which evidently made it more popular this year despite it being more expensive. And if the original Encore isn't quite versatile enough for you, the newer Encore ESP is essentially the same machine recalibrated to also grind well for espresso. As it doesn’t cost much more, value-for-money-wise, it’s hard to beat.

Electric coffee grinder brand of the year

Baratza Logo

This year’s top electric coffee grinder brand was Baratza. The Seattle-based brand has offered high-quality, affordable electric grinders since it hit the specialty scene in 1999.

It is best known for its broad range of domestic grinders, for which it has won numerous awards, including from the Specialty Coffee Association of America, and offers something for just about every budget and purpose.

Whatever you need, be it a reliable manual brewing grinder or a high-end domestic espresso grinder, Baratza has you covered, which is probably why it is this year’s winner in the electric coffee grinder brand category.

Home espresso grinder of the year

Eureka Mignon Manuale espresso grinder

Holding its position from last year, this year’s top espresso grinder was once again the Eureka Mignon Manuale. Eureka’s Mignon domestic grinder line has claimed this title for three years running now, with the Mignon Specialita unseating the Rancilio Rocky in 2021.

The Manuale is Eureka’s most affordable grinder, and while it lacks some of the features available in more expensive Mignon grinders such as timed dosing and a larger motor, it still sports a stylish, quiet, compact build and the same quality burr set as its brethren in the Mignon line. The Manuale is a fantastic choice for making espresso at home on a budget, without compromising quality or consistency and that’s probably why it was the favourite in this category yet again.

Commercial espresso grinder of the year

Given that the vast majority of all coffee made in the commercial space begins with espresso, a quality grinder is the most vital piece of equipment for a coffee shop after the espresso machine itself. It needs to be fast, consistent and reliable, and this year’s most popular commercial espresso grinder, the Hey Cafe HC-600 On Demand Espresso Grinder, offers all of that without breaking the bank.

Featuring 4 independent dosing modes, a set of 64mm hardened steel burrs that run quickly and relatively quietly, an edgeless design and hands-free grinding, the HC-600 is tough to beat at its price point, and is perfect for any small-to-medium-sized cafe. We should mention that while the HC-600 was 2023’s most popular commercial grinder, it has since been replaced by Hey Cafe’s Hey Buddy on-demand grinder. Not to worry though – it’s essentially the same machine in many ways, with a few upgrades to boot.

Espresso grinder brand of the year

Without a doubt, Eureka is one of the most famous and lauded names in the world of coffee grinders, and for good reason. Each of its state-of-the-art machines is hand-made in Florence, Italy, and offers premium features at attractive price points, which is likely why the brand was Cape Coffee Beans’ most popular espresso grinder brand of 2023.

While the company got its start in the commercial space and has long been contracted by other big names in espresso to manufacture their grinders, it has also recently taken the domestic espresso world by storm with its Mignon line. If you’re looking for quality and versatility in an aesthetic package, you’ll surely find it in Eureka’s grinders.

Check out all our espresso grinders here

Espresso machines of the year

While the grinder categories saw some notable changes between 2022 and 2023, 2022’s espresso machine winners have managed to maintain their positions as South Africa’s favourites in 2023 too. The only difference is in the form of a new “Espresso machine brand of the year” category, whose winner shouldn’t be all that surprising given some of the winners in other espresso categories this year.

Entry-level espresso machine of the year

The Gaggia Classic tends to vie with the Rancilio Silvia for top spot in the entry-level space, even though they're in quite different price and size brackets. The Classic ‘Pro’ released in 2019, boasts a bevy of impressive features in a tiny package, including a 3-way solenoid valve in the group head to help release pressure after pulling a shot. This makes cleanup a lot easier and is a feature many lower-end home espresso machines lack. It also uses a standard 58mm grouphead, rather than the proprietary (read, "hard to find accessories for") groupheads of some of its competitors.

With features like this, a stylish build, available in several colours, and a very attractive price tag, it's easy to see why the Gaggia Classic was this year’s most popular entry-level home espresso machine yet again.

Prosumer espresso machine of the year

Rancilio Silvia Pro Home Espresso Machine

The Rancilio Silvia Pro maintained its seat as South Africa’s most popular premium home espresso machine in 2023, specifically in its ‘X’ variation, and it’s not hard to see why. In value for money and feature-richness, it’s tough to beat.

The original Silvia Pro featured dual boilers so you could steam milk and brew espresso simultaneously, and a pair of advanced PID controllers that allowed for temperature control with less than 0.5° of deviation, all packed into a retro, minimalist frame.

The new Silvia Pro X adds variable soft infusion to prevent channelling and improve extraction, and a boiler pressure gauge, all for a much more affordable price than machines with comparable specifications, which explains why it came out ahead of the pack once more in 2023 in its newer incarnation.

Commercial espresso machine of the year

Rancilio Classe 5 S Commercial Espresso Machine

Despite being best known in the home machine space these days, Rancilio again claimed the commercial category with the Classe 5 S, now for the second year running.

The Classe 5 S is a no-fuss, first-rate machine, made with high-quality commercial components like a built-in volumetric pump, boiler pressure control gauges, and a heat exchange boiler. It’s also available in several sizes, and, perhaps most excitingly, offers a factory-fitted gas-heating option, which cuts down on energy usage significantly and even lets you keep brewing even during load-shedding.

All this, for what is comparatively a very affordable price as commercial machines go, makes the Rancilio Classe 5 S the perfect machine for your restaurant, small cafe, or mobile coffee kiosk.

Espresso machine brand of the year

Given how close it came to sweeping the Cape Coffee Awards’ espresso machine section, it's not surprising that Rancilio was this year’s espresso machine brand of the year overall.

Rancilio got its start making high-end commercial espresso machines in Italy in the 1920s. In the late ‘90s, the brand released its Rancilio Silvia, which set the home espresso space alight and played a significant role in the third wave of coffee.

Now in its 6th iteration, the Silvia is just as popular as ever, and Rancilio has become one of the best-known and most celebrated names in espresso as a whole, and shows no signs of slowing down just yet, which is why it was 2023’s most popular espresso machine brand at Cape Coffee Beans.

Explore all our espresso machines here

Coffee maker of the year

Much as we love to talk espresso, and we do, most South Africans (and coffee enjoyers worldwide) don’t start their day using home espresso machines. Your average coffee enthusiast tends to opt for more manual brewing methods like percolation or immersion, and 2023 arguably saw somewhat of an upset in this space. After dominating the home-brewing scene for almost a century and winning this category in all prior Cape Coffee Awards, Bialetti’s Moka Express has finally been unseated by…

The Hario V60 pour-over coffee dripper

The only thing that comes close to the Bialetti Moka Express in terms of popularity is Hario’s V60 pour-over dripper. This year, at least in South Africa, the V60 didn’t just come close in popularity to the Express but actually managed to defeat the 3-time Cape Coffee Award champion.

Hario is the manual brewing equipment manufacturer of choice after Bialetti, and the V60 is now a staple in the world of specialty coffee, having become a more common point of entry for many budding coffee devotees.

Beautiful in its simplicity and yet affordable, the V60 brews fantastic coffee without fuss but makes a truly delicious cup if you take the time and effort to understand how it lets you control your brewing variables, which is probably why it was this year’s most popular piece of brewing equipment in South Africa.

Coffee maker brand of the year

While no individual Bialetti coffee maker was the most popular this year, Bialetti was still far and away our most popular brand in the manual brewing space for 2023, as it has been in years past. It hardly needs to be explained.

In 1933, Alfonso Bialetti completed his design for the aluminium Moka Express. Fast forward to the present day and the Italian brand and its iconic moustachioed man logo are arguably the face of the coffee world at large, and you’re more likely than not to find a piece of Bialetti equipment (or at least a third-party knock-off) in any household where at least one person drinks coffee.

Since the 1930s, Bialetti has expanded into an Italian coffee & kitchenware giant and has added new variations on the original design to its range, but the original Moka Express and its younger cousins are still the face of the company, and collectively outsell just about any other brand in the coffee space, which is why Bialetti was South Africa’s most popular coffee maker brand in 2023.

Check out all our coffee makers here

Accessories of the year

This was a new category last year, mostly because ‘accessory’ is such a broad category of products with entirely different functions that it’s quite difficult to fairly and meaningfully compare them. However, we still want to shine some light on some of the most important categories of ‘peripheral’ coffee equipment without which we could hardly make coffee.

Coffee scale of the year

A scale is one of the most essential tools in the coffee lover’s arsenal. Measuring your variables is the only real way to keep them consistent and ensure quality results each time you brew – how can you repeat a great brew if you don’t even know what to repeat?

These days there are many great coffee scales in several price categories available to both home and professional baristas, but the one that South Africa loved the most in 2023 was Wacaco’s Exagram.

Conveniently compact and suitably splash-proof (don’t soak it, though), the Exagram has an accuracy of 0.1 gram and a built-in timer, which is just about all you need in a scale. Furthermore, because it eschews the frillier features like Bluetooth connectivity and various automatic modes, it’s fantastically affordable, making it especially attractive for new coffee enthusiasts who haven’t upgraded to a decent scale because of the cost or barista road warriors who are looking for a secondary scale for travel.

Espresso scale of the year

Making espresso with a scale is more consistent but it presents a unique challenge. While weighing your beans is no different than for a manual brew like a V60, if you want to weigh your shot of espresso as you’re pulling it to ensure consistently great results, you’ll need a scale that’s small enough in diameter to fit comfortably on your drip tray, and also flat enough to fit between the drip tray and the cup, portafilter, and group head.

In 2023, South Africa’s favourite scale for this specific purpose was Timemore’s fittingly named Black Mirror Nano. At 10 cm long, 11 cm wide and 2 cm thick, it would be tough to find anything significantly smaller than the Nano, making it perfectly compatible with even the most compact of home espresso machines. It also has several handy features to help improve your espresso, like a timer that starts automatically when you begin pulling your shot. It also happens to double as a great travel scale for those who want something higher-end.

Stovetop kettle of the year

Hario V60 Buono Drip Kettle

You’re not going to get very far with most brewing equipment without a kettle, so it's safe to say that it’s a fairly vital piece of kit for any coffee lover. A good kettle is even more important for increasingly popular pour-over brewing, like with the Hario V60. It’s fitting then that Hario, having won in the most popular coffee maker category with the V60, had a matching win in the kettle category.

With an elegant gooseneck spout and comfortable grip, Hario’s V60 Buono Drip Kettle is the ideal manual brewing companion. It works perfectly for just about any manual brew method, but is especially suited for pour-over makers like Hario’s own V60 dripper, and has long been the benchmark for gooseneck kettles in the world of specialty coffee.

Variable temperature kettle of the year

In case you haven’t explored this particular niche just yet, variable temperature kettles are even more useful, if highly-specialised, pieces of coffee gear. They heat water to a specific, predetermined temperature and keep it there, allowing you total control over one of the key variables in your brew, so you can fine-tune your coffee-making method right down to the degree.

Timemore’s Fish Variable Temperature Kettle was South Africa’s favourite of its kind in 2023. With the ability to heat your water to within one degree of a set temperature and hold it there for up to 12 hours, it’s easy to see why. Like all good coffee kettles, the Fish sports an elegant gooseneck for perfect pouring precision, and, like all Timemore’s products, it has a stylish, minimalist design sure to suit your kitchen and take your coffee to the next level.

Entry-level espresso accessory of the year

Espresso machines are expensive on their own, but making espresso requires a host of pricey peripherals too, which is why we’re always excited to see great espresso accessories at attractive prices.

The Sonner Knock Box is just that. Not only does it beat out most other knock boxes in affordability, but it also wins on convenience because, thanks to a unique and stylish design that eschews the knock bar for a ‘ledge’ of sorts, it’s much easier to clean.

The Sonner Knock Box is also made of durable, BPA-free plastic and features a handy no-slip rubber bottom, which is why it was South Africa’s (and CCBHQ’s) favourite entry-level espresso accessory in 2023.

Premium espresso accessory of the year

If you’re willing to look (and pay) for it, there’s no end to the amount of specialised gear you can get for your espresso machine. And why shouldn’t you? Making ever finer improvements and adjustments to your shots is the espresso enthusiast’s calling, right? Moreover, because espresso machine upgrades and accessories have a serious capacity for nuance (and price), potentially big upgrades with affordable price tags are all the more attractive.

This year, South Africa’s espresso lovers seem to have concurred, given that their favourite piece of premium espresso equipment was the IMS Precision Espresso Filter Basket. IMS has been crafting top-end espresso accessories since 1946, and its precision filter baskets are among the best you can find.

Thanks to a unique shape and patented perforation style, these baskets are designed to optimise extraction and facilitate puck drying and expulsion, making cleanup a breeze and improving both your espresso and workflow. For home brewers, these baskets are a reasonable price to pay for a tastier espresso, and in the commercial space with higher shot volumes, they could even be considered an essential.

See all our accessories here

Coffee books of the year

One of the first lessons you learn when you decide to dig a little deeper into the specialty coffee rabbit hole is that coffee can be pretty complex. Interest in specialty coffee continues to grow and with it the number of aspiring but confused new coffee devotees, intimidated by just how much there is to learn. Fortunately, we have a collection of books for the amateur and professional alike, and the following were some of South Africa’s favourites in 2023.

Best book for beginners

If you’ve just entered the world of specialty coffee, James Hoffman’s The World Atlas of Coffee is the book for you. James Hoffman himself is somewhat of a celebrity in the coffee world, and his YouTube channel is a famous starting point for the newly coffee curious.

The World Atlas of Coffee was Hoffman’s first book, originally published in 2014, and is now widely considered the ultimate introduction to coffee, covering everything from coffee cultivation and origins, to the science of roasting and a detailed exploration of various brewing techniques.

It’s also beautifully illustrated and comes as a large, stylish hardback, perfectly suited for your coffee table; the writing also mirrors the author’s own witty, colourful and effortlessly informative timbre. We say it’s the perfect addition to any coffee and/or book lover’s shelf, and it appears that our customers agree.

Best book for professionals

Anyone who’s ever worked in a coffee shop knows that making and serving coffee is only half the battle. After all, the coffee business is equal parts coffee and business. And while there are numerous books you could find on the art of making a good cappuccino, you’ll have a harder time coming by a practical guide for running a coffee shop.

Or, at least that used to be true. Fortunately for the coffee professional, Colin Harmon published What I Know About Running Coffee Shops back in 2017, which contains in its 227 pages many of the things you’ll need to know to embark on your own commercial coffee venture, from the most exciting epiphanies to the mundane but all-important details.

In case you’re wondering about Colin’s credentials, he’s a four-time Irish Barista Champion and owner of the internationally renowned 3fe Coffee in Dublin, which he built from a humble one-man cart. The man has paid his dues and he knows his stuff, which is why his book was one of South Africa’s favourite coffee books in 2023.

Top 4 coffee brands of the year

We come now to the final and arguably most important category of the Cape Coffee Awards: coffee itself. This year we’re doing things a little differently than we have in the past, as we feel that naming just one excellent brand was getting a bit boring (especially given the consistency in the top spot). As always, we’d love to be able to compare these brands on an individual coffee basis, but because most of our coffees are single origins, and available in limited quantities over specific periods, it’s neither easy nor entirely fair to declare a single or even several winners. We think they’re all winners anyway, but the following were South Africa’s four most popular coffee brands in 2023.

Truth’s motto is “We roast coffee – properly.”, and we, and evidently the rest of South Africa too, are inclined to agree. Truth’s steampunk-themed HQ in Cape Town was crowned the best coffee shop in the world by The Telegraph in 2016, and it is there that some of the best coffee in the country is carefully hand-roasted in vintage cast-iron drums and then shipped off to satisfied customers all over South Africa.

While Truth does offer single origins, its real strength is in its masterful blends, which bring out the best flavours of several great coffees while limiting their bitterness to a negligible degree. Find out more about Truth here on our blog or here on our podcast, or pick up a bag of its delicious beans right here – they’re sure to satisfy.

What sets Rosetta Roastery apart is its unwavering focus on single-origin coffees. It sources its beans with a rigorous dedication to quality and ethicality and takes great pains to fine-tune the perfect roast profile to best highlight the unique characteristics of each of its coffees on offer.

This care and consideration is clear in the end result – each cup of Rosetta coffee is uniquely delicious, with brilliant flavours characteristic of the region it hails from.

If you’re keen to get to know the coffee you’re drinking more intimately, Rosetta has everything you’re after, and if you’re in the Cape Town area, a visit to one of its cafes on Bree Street or at the V & A Waterfront could very well change your entire perspective on coffee.

Learn more about Rosetta from our blog here, check Rosetta's feature on our podcast here, or pick up some Rosetta beans here.

Cedar is one of our newest brands. In fact, Cedar is one of the newest additions to South Africa’s growing collection of coffee roasteries, having existed only since around September 2021, making it all the more impressive that Cedar was one of Cape Coffee Beans’ top-selling brands in 2023.

Not only is Cedar new, but it's also pretty small, run by only two coffee professionals, Winston Thomas and Leigh Wentzel. Nevertheless, between them is a truly vast wealth of coffee expertise. Winston’s been the South African Barista Champion a few times in his career, and Leigh, who worked his way through the ranks of Rosetta Roastery to eventually manage the roastery for a time, was part of the team that won Coffee Magazine’s Roastery of the year award in 2018 and 2019.

On their About page, Leigh and Winston state, “We all started our journey drinking instant coffee, let us show you how deep the rabbit hole goes”. We don’t think you’ll find a much better guide to brilliant coffee than Cedar, and we’re sure that the droves of South Africans who bought and enjoyed its coffee in 2023 would agree.

Hear more from Winston and Leigh themselves on our podcast here, or pick up some tasty Cedar beans here.

You’re not surprised to find out that Tribe was the number 1 most popular coffee brand at Cape Coffee Beans in 2023, are you? After all, the Cape Town-based roastery has taken the win in all previous Cape Coffee Awards, and has quickly become one of the biggest names in the South African coffee scene with its focus on “roasting the coffee that people want to drink.”

Tribe is headed by veterans of the South African coffee industry, trailblazers dedicated to making delicious coffee accessible to everyone. Its blends are delicious, its limited edition single origins bright and exciting, and we have customers all over the country, and plenty just on our doorstep, who keep coming back for more. Nothing quite illustrates a brand’s quality more than a dedicated following.

If you want to know more about Tribe you can read up on them here, or listen to Tribe’s episode on the CCB podcast. Or, if you’re already convinced and can’t wait to pick up some Tribe coffee beans, look no further than right here.

A note about all our coffee partners

While we’ve highlighted only 4 of our partners here based on the volume of coffee we sold in 2023, we truly believe that every coffee brand we work with is a winner in its own right. Coffee is a massive industry, and there are hundreds of coffee businesses in South Africa. We’ve very carefully chosen a curated handful of partners, each of whom has something unique to offer for every occasion, palate and budget, but who are all the same in one key way: they make fantastic coffee.

We’re incredibly grateful for having had them on board through 2023 and look forward to a bright future alongside them. Please support them all – they truly deserve it!

Browse all of our coffee brands and roasters here

What’s next?

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading this post. Moreover, thank you to all our fantastic customers who supported our business in 2023 and prior years. It’s been a big year for Cape Coffee Beans, and we know it’s cliché but we truly couldn’t have done it without you. We’re excited to see what 2024 holds for us, and hope you’ll stick around to experience it all alongside us.

What are your thoughts on this year’s Cape Coffee Awards winners? What would you like to see from CCB in 2024? Leave all your thoughts, questions and comments below.

Thanks again for reading, and from all of us at Cape Coffee Beans: Happy brewing!

 

Cape Coffee Awards 2022

The "official" Cape Coffee Awards were born at the end of 2020, right in the thick of a strange and challenging time for most people, including us at CCB. The tradition continued in 2021, though that year also wound up being a difficult one on a global scale.

We're not going to say that 2022 was without its challenges, particularly here in South Africa, but it seems like it was a better year overall, for us, for the world, and hopefully for everyone reading this. That sentiment feels like a great starting point for a look back at 2022.

2022 In Beans

We've always enjoyed reflecting on the things that were most popular in the year gone by, but the official Cape Coffee Awards give us an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the most sought after items in several important categories. We've learned that many people enjoy finding out what was most popular with South African coffee lovers.

As was the case last year, we have some unchanged category winners as well as some emerging undisputed champions, but we also have some noteworthy changes, as well as some new categories. Read on to learn which items were most popular with South African coffee lovers in 2022!

Please note that these awards are purely quantitative. They are based on the products that sold the most throughout the year and not necessarily our top picks or favourites (although many of them are).

Manual coffee grinders of the year

In 2020, when the Cape Coffee Awards began, we witnessed a boom in the sale of manual coffee grinders. This probably had a lot to do with more people brewing at home, but another important driving force was the evolution of the hand grinder space.

In recent years, manual coffee grinders have come leaps and bounds. Not only are there more models out there (and there certainly are) but the quality and consistency of the grind that many of them produce is impressive, especially when compared to what was available a few years ago. They've also become much easier and pleasurable to use, on average.

This means that manual coffee grinders now offer specialty coffee lovers great value for money. They are the starting point we recommend for many people considering brewing at home for the first time. Here are South Africa's favourites.

Overall hand grinder of the year

Timemore Chestnut C2 manual coffee grinder

To anyone who owns one, this should come as no surprise. The best-selling hand grinder in 2022 was the same as in 2021, by a pretty huge margin. That was the Timemore Chestnut C2! Last year, we put the C2 in its own category, separately highlighting the best-selling entry-level and premium grinders. While the latter category remains (below), the Timemore Chestnut has eclipsed all other entry-level offerings in terms of sheer popularity.

Interestingly, while almost all other grinders went up in price in 2022, the Timemore Chestnut C2 did not, making it even better value for money than before, certainly when compared to other grinders out there. It's hard to beat the C2 as an entry-point into quality grinds.

Premium hand grinder of the year

Comandante C40 MK4 premium manual coffee grinder

The change in this category has been a small one. Last year, the most popular premium hand grinder was the Comandante C40 MK3 and this year, it has been supplanted by the newer Comandante C40 MK4. These are not drastically different grinders, so there are no big surprises here. Comandante is the brand that basically pioneered the premium hand grinder space, and many still consider the C40 range to the benchmark against which all other premium grinders are measured.

Having said that, one of the brands that has shaken things up in the premium grinder space is 1Zpresso, based in Taiwan. Some have even ventured to say that 1Zpresso's grinders rival or even improve upon the quality of the Comandante range. It's worth noting that as a brand, 1Zpresso actually out-sold Comandante in 2022 at Cape Coffee Beans. The fact that any single 1Zpresso model didn't defeat the MK4 could be attributed to the much larger variety of models to choose from.

Electric coffee grinders of the year

It is true that hand grinders are booming and regaining in popularity, but there are still lots of people out there who value the convenience of electric. This is a space where we've seen a changing of the guards in 2022.

Electric filter grinder of the year

Severin Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

It seems that this category in the Cape Coffee Awards is destined to be a contentious one. Two grinders have duked it out, neck and neck, for this category over the last 3 years. They are the Baratza Encore and the Severin Coffee Grinder. In 2020, the Severin just claimed first place; in 2021, the more full-featured Encore took top spot; but in 2022, the Severin is back in the lead, but only just.

These two grinders actually have a pretty similar conical steel burr set, so the relatively significant difference in price between the two is driven by the feature set. The Encore has 40 grind settings and a bigger motor. The Severin on the other hand has only 10 grind settings, but is much more affordable. It seems there are people swayed by both value propositions, and they both make great choices for manual or filter brewing at home.

Espresso grinder of the year 

Eureka Mignon Manuale espresso grinder

There was an interesting shakeup in the previously consistent espresso grinder category, this year. For the last two years, the most popular espresso grinder was the Eureka Mignon Specialita Espresso Grinder. The Specialita had actually overtaken the always popular Rancilio Rocky which would have been the winner in all years prior if the Cape Coffee Awards had been running.

Very interestingly, the Rancilio Rocky actually overtook the Eureka Mignon Specialita in 2022 by quite a margin, but alas, it still was not destined to claim the top spot, because a new champion has emerged. Eureka's newer, stripped down and more affordable Mignon grinder, the Manuale, sold in quantities almost equivalent to the two other grinders combined. Given that the Manuale offers some (but not all) of the features of the Specialita, at the price of the Rocky, it seems to have hit the sweet spot in terms of bang for your buck for many espresso lovers.

Espresso machines of the year

While last year was a year of change in the espresso machine space, 2022 was very much in line with 2021, at least in terms of home espresso machines. The most popular choices remain unchanged on the domestic front, but we did see a big change in the commercial space.

Entry-level espresso machine of the year

While the Rancilio Silvia Home Espresso Machine continues to become more popular every year but, since the arrival of the new Gaggia Classic, there has been a clear winner in terms of sheer quantity purchased at Cape Coffee Beans. To be fair, there is a big price gap between the little Gaggia Classic and the heftier Rancilio Silvia.

The Gaggia offering seems to appeal specifically to first-time home baristas, and there's no arguing that the Classic makes an excellent and affordable choice on that front. Now available in various colours and with several modification options, there are even more reasons to choose a Gaggia Classic as your starter espresso machine.

 

Prosumer espresso machine of the year 

Rancilio Silvia Pro Home Espresso Machine

While the Rancilio Silvia may have a less expensive rival to contend with in the entry-level space, the Rancilio Silvia Pro has no such issues in the premium home espresso machine arena. In terms of feature set at the price point, nothing really comes close.

The Silvia Pro, and now the newer Pro X, includes dual boilers, PID and lots of programmable options at a much more affordable price than other machines with similar specifications. That explains why it was the clear winner in the prosumer category for domestic espresso machines in 2022, as it was in 2021.

Commercial espresso machine of the year 

Rancilio Classe 5 S Commercial Espresso Machine

This category didn't even exist in 2020, and we were thrilled to see the commercial espresso market open up again last year. In 2021, the Wega Lunna was the most popular choice with proprietors of cafes, restaurants and other coffee operations.

We're happy to report that 2022 was a good year overall for investment in the coffee industry, but there definitely was a change in preferences. You could say that Rancilio came close to a clean sweep in the espresso machine space. The most popular commercial espresso machine was the Rancilio Classe 5 S. Available in several sizes, this commercial offering from Rancilio is robust and affordable. Perhaps its most prized feature is the option for factory-fitted gas-operated heating, making it a viable option for serving coffee during load-shedding. 

Coffee maker of the year

All right; enough with all the espresso talk. After all, that's not how most people make their coffee at home. All over the world, and here in South Africa, most people still use manual brew methods to make their morning cup of coffee and, when it comes to manual brew methods, the most popular option has basically been the same, all across the globe, for almost a century.

And the winner is...

Once again, the Bialetti Moka Express takes the title of the most popular coffee maker of the year. It really is the most popular coffee maker, period.

Given its lifespan, its ease of use, its iconic design and its sheer longevity, it's still the most popular way to make a cup of quality coffee in your kitchen. We have customers that come in to buy spares for Bialetti Moka Express pots that are older than some of our team members and are still going strong.

It may be old-fashioned (many of the best things are) but there's no denying that the Bialetti Moka Express is an icon in the coffee space, and it likely will remain so for many years to come.

Check out all our coffee makers here

Electric filter coffee makers of the year

This was a new category for us last year, but we think it's an important one. You may remember your parents making coffee on a filter coffee machine. Don't get us wrong; we know that there are lots of terrible drip coffee makers out there, but there is a new trend towards "batch brew" emerging across the specialty coffee world. The new generation of filter coffee, drip coffee, or batch brew coffee machines (they go by many names) are much more precisely engineered and consistent, and they offer a great way to make a larger volume of coffee at home, at the office, or even in the cafe.

Domestic filter coffee machine of the year

Technivorm MoccaMaster Thermos Coffee Machine

On the home front, the most popular brand has not changed but the specific coffee machine actually has. Last year, the most pouplar choice was the iconic Technivorm MoccaMaster KBG Select but this year the winner was the Technivorm MoccaMaster KBGT 741.

Although not available in as many fancy colours, the KBGT swaps the glass jug and the hot plate for an insulated thermos, maintaining both the temperature and the quality of your brew for many hours. Visitors to CCBHQ will have spotted that we have one of these babies on the brew bar for making smaller batches, and we really love it. It seems that so do many other South African coffee lovers!

Commercial batch brewer of the year 

Coffee Queen M2 Filter Coffee Machine

In the commercial space, business owners seem to have made the opposite tradeoff and swapped the thermal insulation of last year's winner, The Coffee Queen Thermos Filter Coffee Machine, for the convenience and aesthetic of the more traditional Coffee Queen M2. Having said that, we know that there was an availability issue with regards to thermally insulated Coffee Queen machines for part of the year, so we feel compelled to mention the close runner up: The Coffee Queen Mega Gold which is CQ's higher end offering for commercial operations, which we also use at CCBHQ for bigger batches.

Coffee Queen filter coffee machines are surprisingly affordable; they may represent the best value option for businesses that want to offer quality coffee on a small budget. You can buy just one brewer and as many flasks or decanters as you need, and you could serve an army. You don't even need a trained barista. It may not be as trendy as espresso, but we really believe in batch brew as a commercial offering, particularly on smaller scales and smaller budgets.

Accessories of the year

Finally, we come to this year's new category: accessories. We've shied away from this part of our product range in years past, simply because there are literally hundreds of different products to look at, many of which serve entirely different purposes. We can't evaluate or compare them all, but we have decided to include awards for two of the most important types of accessories, this year.

Scale of the year

Timemore Black Mirror Coffee Scale

Any true specialty coffee lover will tell you: you can't make great coffee without a scale. Many people will snigger the first time they see a scale under a pour-over brewer, but the reality is that you can't make consistently delicious coffee without controlling at least your brew ratio, and also ideally your extraction time. That's where coffee scales come in.

We actually have lots of different scales of all sorts of shapes and sizes available. We love them all, but there was one that clearly was the most popular with our customers in 2022, and that was the Timemore Black Mirror Basic+. It ticks all the boxes for manual brews and does the job of variable control perfectly, for coffee lovers across the country and beyond.

Kettle of the year 

Hario V60 Buono Drip Kettle

Kettles! If you think about it, they're actually pretty darn important. There's no coffee without hot water, and as specialty coffee lovers quickly learn, controlling your pour as well as your temperature can make all the difference. Most coffee kettles these days have recognisable goose necks, but beyond that they differ in material and type quite a bit.

We were thrilled and intrigued to discover that the most popular kettle among our range is still the classic Hario V60 Buono Drip Kettle. Perhaps load-shedding played a role here, but it seems our customers favoured the classic stovetop over many of the fancier variable temperature electric offerings out there. There's no question that the Hario V60 Buono has done the job of pouring beautifully for many many years, and has stood the test of time.

Coffee of the year

The final awards go to the coffee brands that the people of South Africa ordered the most in 2022. We would love to do this on an individual coffee basis, but as most of our coffees are single origins, available in limited quantities for a limited time, it's not really possible to declare a winner. We actually think they're all winners anyway. However, we can tell you which brand of coffee our customers ordered most!

Coffee brand of the year

The most popular brand by sheer volume has now been the same for three years running: Tribe Coffee Roasting. It seems that "roasting the coffee that the people want to drink" continues to be a great strategy.

Tribe has had a big year, moving and upgrading their roastery and expanding. We ourselves have seen lots of growth in the orders of Tribe, not only for home consumers but for commercial coffee operations across the country.

If you want to know more about Tribe, why not listen to their episode on the CCB podcast or read our blog post about them. Of course, you should also buy their delicious coffee beans.

Coffee blend of the year

hazz

While we can't fairly compare the popularity of our single origin offerings, we can at least offer a comparison of the performance of the perrenial and seasonal blends.

When it comes to the most popular blend that we offer, there was has also been a clear winner, for several years, and that is häzz, South Africa's coffee for heroes! These bright blue bags fly off the shelves at CCB and make their way to homes and offices across the country in impressive numbers. You can try the blend by buying a bag online or at HQ or visiting their cafes in Newlands and Stellenbosch.

A note about all our coffee partners

We are definitely repeating ourselves here, but we think it's a message worth repeating... While we may have sold more Tribe coffee than any other brand, and more hazz coffee than any other blend, we feel very strongly that all the coffee brands we work with are winners. After all, there are hundreds of coffee businesses in South Africa and we've very carefully chosen our partners. Each one of them has something unique to offer and they cater to many different budgets, palettes and personalities, but they are all providing coffee of the highest quality. We're proud to work with them all! Please support them. They deserve it!

What's next?

We want to thank everyone who has read this post and supported our business in 2022 and prior years. It's quite something to be able to work in this amazing space and call it our job.

We're excited about 2023 and have a few interesting plans in the works. We'd love to hear from you too though. What would you like to see from CCB in 2023? What awards would you like to see on next year's post? What feedback do you have for us from 2022? Leave your comments below!

Happy brewing!

Cape Coffee Awards 2021

2021 may not have proven to be exactly the year that we were all hoping for at the end of 2020, but it still had many great things to offer, in coffee and beyond. It was a busy year for the team at CCB, one filled with change. There was a veritable renaissance in startup coffee businesses and the home brewing space continued to grow.

2021 In Beans

While we've always enjoyed taking a look back at the things that were most popular in the year gone by, last year was our first "official" Cape Coffee Awards. Since so many people enjoyed finding out about the category winners, we're very pleased to continue the tradition this year with an expanded set of awards.

Some things remained unchanged, but there were also lots of newly emerging award-winners. Find out which items were most popular with South African coffee lovers in 2021!

Please note that these awards are purely quantitative. They are based on the products that sold the most throughout 2021 and not necessarily our top picks or favourites (although many of them are).

Manual coffee grinders of the year

In 2020 we saw an explosion in the manual coffee grinder market, both in terms of interest and in terms of variety. This has only continued in 2021. It's fair to say that there are more manual coffee grinders and better coffee grinders available in SA than there have ever been before.

This may have to do with the fact that more people started brewing at home because of the pandemic, and that doesn't seem to have changed. Perhaps people are also taking advantage of the incredible consistency and versatility of the newest generation of grinders.

This is good news for coffee lovers, because whether you want something very affordable, or something as consistent as the very best professional grinders, you have a bunch of options available to you now. Here are South Africa's favourites, in three distinct categories.

Entry level hand grinder of the year

Hario Skerton Plus Manual Coffee Grinder

Admittedly, this winner isn't a new one. The tried, tested & trusted Hario Skerton Plus Manual Coffee Grinder has maintained its top spot from the year before. It's been around for a long time, but it really still is one of the best entry-level grinders out there, balancing affordability and functionality.

It is one of the most affordable quality entry points to burr grinders and it doesn't cost much more than an electric blade grinder (which is something no coffee lover should ever use). With its ceramic conical burr set, it allows you to make delicious manual brews at home without breaking the bank.

Premium hand grinder of the year

Comandante C40 MK3 premium manual coffee grinder

OK, so maybe there hasn't been all that much change in the manual grinder space! The premium hand grinder award also goes to the incumbent. It's hard to beat one of the most reputable hand grinders in the world: the Comandante C40 MK3.

While the Comandante MK3 has many more rivals in 2021 than it had in 2020, it still retained its top spot in terms of the sheer number sold. Once you've used one, you really won't be surprised. It may be pricey for a hand grinder, but it produces grinds of a similar quality to professional grinders that are orders of magnitude more expensive.

Overall hand grinder of the year

Timemore Chestnut C2 manual coffee grinder

But wait... we do have a surprise for you after all. The actual top selling hand grinder of the year was a brand new contestant: The Timemore Chestnut C2! We actually sold more of the Timemore C2 than the Comandante & Skerton combined. That is quite something!

You may be wondering, why didn't it unseat either of the previous champions in that case? The answer is that it's hard to put it either in the entry-level or the premium category. It sits comfortably somewhere in between. It's definitely not entry-level, but it also doesn't have quite the variety of grind settings that something like the Comandante offers. It's also a fraction of the price of the top-end premium grinders. You could think of it as the benchmark in a newly emerging category: the mid-tier manual coffee grinder. That makes it a great choice for most home brewers, and our customers seem to agree!

Electric coffee grinders of the year

Even though manual coffee grinders may be booming, there's never any shortage of people who value the convenience of electric. For espresso particularly, but also for manual brews, it's hard to beat the convenience of pushing a button.

Electric filter grinder of the year

Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

Last year this was a very close call and this year was no different in that regard, but we have had a change of the guards, nonetheless. The Baratza Encore just overtook the Severin Conical Burr Electric Coffee Grinder as our most popular electric coffee grinder for filter and manual brews.

The fact that the winner this year was actually the more expensive grinder (largely due to greater versatility in grind settings and better consistency) speaks to the fact that manual brewers were clearly placing importance on quality in their home setups. As an entry point, the trusty Severin is still a fantastic choice, but the Encore's 40 grind settings and larger burr set won out this year!

Espresso grinder of the year 

Eureka Mignon Specialita espresso grinder

It's pretty unsurprising to report that there was no change in the espresso grinder of the year category. It's pretty hard to beat the functionality, quality and sheer reliability of the Eureka Mignon Specialita Espresso Grinder. It pairs well with any domestic espresso machine from entry-level to premium.

Having said that, we were intrigued to find that one of the champions of old clawed its way back to a very close second. The Rancilio Rocky had a surprisingly good year. It may not have the bells and whistles of the Specialita but it is known for its reliablity and it is very affordable in comparison to other espresso grinders. Its return to popularity may be a result of so many new home espresso enthusiasts entering the market and choosing the tried and tested classic grinder to start their home barista journeys.

Espresso machines of the year

In the espresso machine category we saw quite a lot of change in 2021. The domestic machine space had a shakeup with lots of interesting new entrants. We also have added a new category for commercial espresso machines. 2021 saw a surge in coffee entrepreneurship as relaxed restrictions gave a welcome boost to the demand for coffee in the cafe.

Entry-level espresso machine of the year

There's no denying it... we had quite an upset in this category in 2021. The king, or rather the queen of home espresso, was unseated from her throne. 2021 was the first year that we sold the new Gaggia Classic and it stormed past the Rancilio Silvia Home Espresso Machine to claim first prize in the entry-level space. Of course, it's worth nothing that the Silvia did not actually lose any ground. She actually sold more than she did when she won the category last year!

How can that be? It seems that the affordability of the Gaggia Classic has simply opened up the world of home espresso to many people who may not have purchased a home espresso machine before. We think that's a great thing!

You can't go wrong with a Silvia or a Classic. They are both fantastic entry points into home espresso, depending on your budget.

Prosumer espresso machine of the year 

Rancilio Silvia Pro Home Espresso Machine

The tables turned in a similar way in the prosumer category in 2021. This had a lot to do with lots of new entrants into the space and it also featured an unexpected dethroning. You could say that Rancilio pushed up market, because the winner of the Prosumer category in 2021 was none other than the brand new Rancilio Silvia Pro, unseating the always dominant La Marzocco Linea Mini. The Linea Mini was still very popular but it couldn't quite keep up with the bang for your buck that the new Rancilio Silvia Pro offers home espresso enthusiasts. With dual boilers and PID at a price similar to many basic heat exchange machines, it's no wonder that so many espresso aficianados chose the new Silvia Pro as their vehicle of exploration.

Commercial espresso machine of the year 

Wega Lunna Commercial Espresso Machine

It really gives us great pleasure to introduce this category for 2021. It was sadly almost non-existant in 2020 as so many businesses struggled to survive the pandemic and its accompanying restrictions.

2021 saw a real surge in coffee entrepreneurship with lots of new coffee startups across the country, often in smaller towns and cities rather than just the metropolitcan centres.

The coffee entrepreneurs had a lot to choose from this year, and the winner of the popularity contest, by just a hair, was the Wega Lunna. Solidly built, basic but hardy, it was an obvious choice for those dipping their toes into the waters of the cafe.

This is a category where it's definitely worth taking note of the runner up, which was the Crem EX3. Although it finished the year just behind the Wega Lunna, it only entered the race half way through 2021! In the second half of the year, it was clearly the most popular, most likely because of its surprisingly advanced feature set at a relatively affordable price.

Coffee maker of the year

With all this talk of espresso equipment, one might be tempted to forget that most South Africans, heck most coffee lovers around the world, don't make "true" espresso at home. Manual brew methods still offer an easy, affordable, high quality option for the average coffee lover.

When it comes to manual brew methods, the most popular option has basically been the same, all across the globe, for almost a century.

And the winner is...

Once again, the Bialetti Moka Express takes the title of the most popular coffee maker of the year. It really is the most popular coffee maker, period.

Given its lifespan, its ease of use, its iconic design and its sheer longevity, it's still the most popular way to make a cup of quality coffee in your kitchen. We have customers that come in to buy spares for Bialetti Moka Expresso pots that are older than some of our team members and are still going strong.

It may be old-fashioned (many of the best things are) but there's no denying that the Bialetti Moka Express is an icon in the coffee space, and it likely will remain so for many years to come.

Check out all our coffee makers here

Electric filter coffee makers of the year

But wait... there's more. This is admittedly a new category, and possibly one that we should have considered last year. Even though more and more people are getting into espresso, and more and more people are getting into manual brewing, there's a classic way to make coffee that is also seeing a resurgence.

Some call it filter. Some call it batch brew. Whatever you call them, the reality is that these electric machines offer a really easy and convenient way to make large volumes of coffee at home or in a commercial setting. Unlike some of the crummy drip pots that your parents had (and are still available in many stores), the new generation of filter coffee makers feature precise variable control and consistently delicious brews.

Domestic filter coffee machine of the year

Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

In the home filter coffee machine space, there was a very clear winner. The Technivorm MoccaMaster KBG Select took the top spot by a huge margin, and 2nd place went to its thermally insulated sibling the KBGT 741. You could say it was a clean sweep.

If you've used one of these brightly-coloured beauties, you get it. It's so simple, yet it's so consisent. It looks good on your kitchen counter. It lets you whip up a litre or more of wonderful steaming hot coffee with so little fuss. That's probably why we see so many filter coffee enthusiasts picking one of these up as a secondary brewer. Pour-overs are great, but when it comes to serving a dinner party, or making that first cup bleary-eyed, it's hard to beat a MoccaMaster!

Commercial batch brewer of the year 

Coffee Queen M Filter Coffee Machine

In the commercial space, things are different in terms of aesthetic. While she may also be royal, the winner isn't too focused on her looks, but there's no denying it; if you want to brew large volumes of consistent batch brew, there is an obvious choice: The Coffee Queen M Filter Coffee Machine.

The Coffee Queen is surprisingly affordable; it may represent the best value option for businesses that want to offer quality coffee on a small budget. You can buy just one brewer and as many flasks as you want, and you could serve an army. You don't even need a trained barista. It may not be as trendy as espresso, but we really believe in batch brew as a commercial offering. We'd love to see even more businesses pick it up in 2022!

Coffee of the year

The final award goes to the coffee brand that the people of South Africa enjoyed the most through 2021. Like last year, we selected this by brand as opposed to doing it by bean because many of our roasters change their offerings regularly and we didn't want this to be a disadvantage.

Coffee brand of the year

The result was clear and unchanged from last year. The coffee brand that sold the most bags of coffee in 2021 at CCB was Tribe Coffee Roasting, once again! There's no denying it. South Africa loves Tribe Coffee, and our friends at Tribe continue to succeed in "roasting the coffee that the people want to drink."

We have a lot of respect for the people and the products at Tribe and we want to congratulate them on their success! In 2021 we were lucky enough to offer some very special Tribe limited releases, and we hope to do more of that in 2022. Watch this space.

In the meantime, if you want to know more about them, why not listen to Tribe's episode on the CCB podcast or read our blog post about them. Of course, you should also buy their delicious coffees.

Coffee blend of the year

hazz

All right; we've relented. We received a fair bit of feedback last year complaining about the lack of a winner in terms of individual coffees. We've held back on that category simply because we offer dozens (if not hundreds) of single origin coffees across the year that are all available in very different quantities, for different amounts of time, and admittedly at very different price points. It doesn't make for an easy (or fair) comparison.

Still, we realised that we can look at the blends we offer. After all, most of them are available year-round (even if the components change seasonally) and many of our customers find favourites that they come back for again and again.

When it comes to the most popular blend that we offer, there was also a clear winner, and it was none other than Stellenbosch-based häzz, South Africa's coffee for heroes! These bright blue bags fly off the shelves at CCB and make their way to homes and offices across the country in impressive numbers. You can try the blend by buying a bag online or at HQ or visiting their cafes in Newlands and Stellenbosch.

A note about all our coffee partners

We may be repeating ourselves here, but we think it's a message worth revisiting. While we may have sold more Tribe coffee than any other brand, and more hazz coffee than any other blend, we feel very strongly that all the coffee brands we work with arewinners. After all, there are hundreds of coffee businesses in South Africa and we've very carefully chosen our partners. Each one of them has something unique to offer and they cater to many different budgets, palettes and personalities, but they are all providing coffee of the highest quality. We're proud to work with them all!

After a period of time that stretched so many of them to the brink, we are so happy to see that they all survived the challenges that started in 2020 and feel relieved to see that their businesses picked up in 2021. We hope they will continue to grow in 2022. Please support them. They deserve it!

Thank you

Last but not least, we want to say thank you to all the South African coffee lovers in our community. It's a special kind of privilege to be able to spend our days focused on specialty coffee and call it our job. We couldn't do that without your support and we are incredibly grateful.

We're really looking forward to 2022 and serving our growing coffee community. We wish you a great start to the year, in all things, including coffee.

Happy brewing!

Buy Now, Pay Later with MoreTyme

Coffee drinking and brewing is a rewarding hobby to have. You are able to experience flavours and aromas from across the globe in the comfort of your own home. It is a hobby that requires a certain amount of investment though. Not only do you need the right beans; you also need the right equipment.

At Cape Coffee Beans, we offer a broad range of equipment, accessories, and coffee beans to our customers, and we’re excited to offer payment methods that help to make them all more accessible. To that end, we’ve recently made a new way to pay available through MoreTyme.

What Is MoreTyme?

MoreTyme is a buy now, pay later solution developed by Tymebank, which we are able to offer through our partnership with Payfast. It is a payment option that allows you to pay off your purchase in three instalments over three months. What sets MoreTyme apart is that you pay no monthly fee, no interest and no fee when you buy, meaning that you don’t have to pay more than the price tag.

MoreTyme through Payfast

For coffee lovers in need of new gear, being able to make easy, interest-free payments for larger purchases is a significant benefit. All you need to do is open an account with Tymebank using their app, or use your existing Tymebank account to pay.

How To Use MoreTyme

To make a payment with MoreTyme via PayFast, you will need an account with TymeBank. If you don’t already have an account with TymeBank, all you need to do is download the app onto your smartphone and follow the prompts to set up your account. It’s a quick and easy process. You can do everything right from your phone, including verifying your identity by entering your South African ID number and taking a selfie.

Once your account has been verified, you can open the app on your smartphone, navigate to the MoreTyme settings, and activate this option. To make a purchase using MoreTyme, transfer funds into your TymeBank Account of at least 50% of the total purchase amount. Then, follow the quick and easy steps at checkout below:

  • When you reach the payment page at checkout, select Payfast
  • Once you’re redirected to Payfast, choose the MoreTyme payment option
  • The PayFast payment page will pop up with a QR code
  • Scan this QR code with the TymeBank app on your smartphone
  • Once you have scanned the code successfully, the first payment of 50% of the purchase price will be deducted from your account
  • The next two payments of 25% each will be deducted 30 days then 60 days after the initial purchase
MoreTyme Instalments

You can use the MoreTyme function for purchases of any value between R50 & R25,000!

It is important to remember that, provided there are enough funds in your account for the upcoming payments, you will not be charged interest. You may be charged additional fees and interest if the funds are not available when the instalments are due.

MoreTyme To Brew

We think an interest free option to spread payments should be a helpful addition to our range of payment methods available via Payfast. It may allow you to make that special purchase that you’ve been eyeing that little bit sooner, without any additional fees, and give you that little bit more time to brew your favourite coffees.

 

CCB Coffee Awards 2020

2020 In Coffee Beans

2020 was a rollercoaster of a year, but through all the ups and downs and the restrictions that came and went, it seems that people kept on drinking coffee. Let's look at some of CCB's most popular products from the last year.

Note: these awards are awarded on a purely quantitative basis - products that sold the most throughout 2020 and not necessarily our top picks or favourites (although many of them are).

Manual coffee grinders of the year

The real winners of 2020 are without a doubt all the people that put in the grind and managed to get through (and even make a success from) what was an incredibly challenging year. Let's start with a shout out to all the hustlers and grinders out there... but of course, those aren't the grinders we are talking about.

Coffee grinders are our favourite category to look at (after all, we don't sell pre-ground coffee at all) and our range of grinders has expanded quite considerably in 2020. This year sees the introduction of a new category in the coffee grinder space with a whole range of premium hand grinders coming to market in 2020. With that in mind, there will be two grinder categories this year: entry-level hand grinders and premium hand grinders.

Entry level hand grinder of the year

Hario Skerton Plus Manual Coffee Grinder

This award goes to the trusty Hario Skerton Plus Manual Coffee Grinder. With the steep uptake we've seen in home brewing, it comes as no surprise that this entry level hand grinder has seen such success through 2020.

A burr grinder is an essential piece of kit for any home brewer starting out. There really is no substitute for freshly ground coffee, and the ability to adjust your grind settings will make a world of difference to your brews. The Skerton has been a favourite since CCB started. It's great to see that it still is so popular.

Premium hand grinder of the year

Comandante C40MKIII premium manual coffee grinder

We were very excited to see a range of beautifully engineered and designed premium hand grinders entering the South African specialty coffee space in 2020. This included one of the most reputable hand grinders in the world: the Comandante C40 MK3. The people of South Africa loved the Comandante so much that it was our most popular premium hand grinder of 2020.

We were delighted to see how quickly coffee lovers snapped up these grinders, but what really excited us was how this reflected on the SA coffee community as a whole; it is a testament to the fact that South African coffee lovers really take their coffee brewing seriously and are willing to invest in achieving a high quality brew.

Electric coffee grinders of the year

Sticking with the theme of grinders, sometimes you just want a machine to do the heavy lifting for you. Here we have the most popular electric grinders in the filter and espresso categories.

Electric filter grinder of the year

Severin Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

This was an incredibly close call, so close in fact that we have to give a shout out to the Baratza Encore which sold just one unit less than the winner of this category... But there can only be one winner and the most popular electric filter grinder of the year is the Severin Conical Burr Electric Coffee Grinder.

The more we see coffee lovers trading in their blade grinders for burr grinders, the happier we become. If you have a blade grinder, it's time to upgrade to a burr grinder (the difference is huge) and you can't go wrong with the Severin Conical Burr Electric Coffee Grinder as a starting point.

Espresso grinder of the year 

Eureka Mignon Specialita espresso gribder

This category was pretty cut and dry with the Eureka Mignon Specialita Espresso Grinder winning by quite a margin. This really is an incredible little grinder, at a fantastic price point. It's one of our go to grinders at HQ and we even manage to get great results on filter with it (a pretty unique feat for an espresso grinder).

Although we must say that we are very excited to see what happens over the next year with the introduction of the new Rocket Espresso Milano grinders competing for this title.

Espresso machines of the year

As our range of espresso machines grows, it seems like a good idea to break things down a little further. Here we have two categories: entry level espresso machines (which includes all espresso machines under R40,000) and prosumer espresso machines (which includes all espresso machines above R40,000).

Beginner espresso machine of the year

Despite a number of new products in the beginner home espresso category, the Rancilio Silvia Home Espresso Machine defended its title as the most popular beginner espresso machine and most popular espresso machine of 2020. There's a reason that these little beauties have been one of the most popular espresso machines in the world for over two decades (although there have been a few upgrade over the years). These amazing machines deliver barista quality espresso at a price point that is as small as the Silvia's footprint.

If you've mastered all the manual brew methods and are looking for a new coffee challenge for 2021, then it might be time to get into the espresso game with a Rancilio Silvia.

Prosumer espresso machine of the year 

La Marzocco Linea Mini Home Espresso Machine

The results for the most popular prosumer espresso machine came as a pleasant surprise to us - particularly given the challenges we faced around stock and logistics this year. The most popular prosumer espresso machine of 2020 was none other than the La Marzocco Linea Mini (we even managed to send one across the globe). Once again, it brings us great joy to see such fervent pursuit of quality and excellence from South African coffee drinkers!

La Marzocco have really earned their stripes in the world of commercial coffee and the Linea Mini lives up to that reputation in the home. 

Coffee maker of the year

And now for the award you've all been waiting for. The answer to the question, "How do South Africans like to brew their coffee?" Without further ado let's look at the most popular coffee maker of 2020.

And the winner is...

Once again, the Bialetti Moka Express takes the title of the most popular coffee maker of the year.

Given the lifespan of these incredible little coffee makers (we have a customer who comes in to buy spares for the one they bought in the '80s), we continue to be surprised at how popular they are. We are surprised because one would think that eventually everyone in South Africa would own a Bialetti Moka Pot (and they last for a lifetime), but year on year by a significant margin, the Bialetti Moka Express is undisputed as the most popular coffee maker.

Most popular new coffee maker

AeroPress Go Coffee Maker

With our deserving overall winner having been invented in the 1930s, we couldn't help but take a glance at how the competition faired among newer contenders. When looking specifically at coffee makers released in the last 12-18 months, there was also a clear winner...

Standing on the shoulders of the already incredibly popular AeroPress Coffee Maker, the AeroPress Go just beat out the Wacaco Pipamoka for the title of most popular among our recently released coffee makers.

Check out all our coffee makers here

Coffee brand of the year

The final award goes to the coffee brand that the people of South Africa enjoyed the most through 2020. We selected this by brand as opposed to doing it by product because many of our roasters change their offerings regularly and we didn't want this to be a disadvantage.

And the winner is...

The coffee brand that sold the most bags of coffee in 2020 at CCB was none other than Tribe Coffee Roasting. It seems that the ethos of "roasting the coffee that the people want to drink" has paid off and made Tribe Coffee Roasting CCB's most popular coffee brand. We have customers all over the country, and plenty just on our doorstep, who keep coming back for more coffee from Tribe. These guys have a truly dedicated following.

If you want to know more about them, why not listen to Tribe's episode on the CCB podcast or read our blog post about them.

A note on all our coffee partners

While we sold more bags of Tribe coffee than any other brand we work with in 2020, we're very happy that, with our customers' support, we sold more coffee from all our suppliers than we ever had before, hopefully making a small contribution to plugging the gap left by cafes hurt by lockdown restrictions.

It also feels worth pointing out that there are literally hundreds of coffee brands in South Africa, and we have very carefully chosen the ones we work with. We think they are among the very best. That's why we work with them!

Thank you

We want to sign off with a massive, heartfelt thank you to all South African coffee lovers for your continued support throughout 2020. It's been an inspiration to see South Africans pursuing quality and excellence with their coffee despite a very challenging environment. It feels as though the local coffee scene is going through a renaissance of sorts, and going in to 2021, we are committed to continuing to support South Africa's love of great coffee.

Happy brewing!


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