The Barista League Johannesburg: A Totally Different Coffee Competition

On the 3rd of October, 2025, Johannesburg hosted its first The Barista League competition and I was lucky enough to be in attendance. I must admit that I didn’t have a clear idea of what I was going to witness but, in retrospect, I feel fortunate to have been at the first instalment of what is now going to be an annual event on the South African coffee competition calendar. The Barista League isn’t like any coffee event I’ve attended before, and I’ve attended a few over the years. I believe it’s going to make an important mark on the South African coffee scene thanks to all the ways in which it is different, which I think are worth reflecting on.

For context, I wound up at Johannesburg’s The Barista League event, not because I was competing, but because I was part of a small local team representing the Rancilio brand, one of the key sponsors of the event, and also one of the brands we are proud to work with at Cape Coffee Beans. Standing behind the Rancilio Specialty RS1 (more on this later) offered the perfect vantage point from which to appreciate the significance of this coffee gathering, the first of its kind in Africa.

A different type of competition

While The Barista League has been around for many years and has hosted competitions all around the world, my expectations of barista competitions are based on events of a very different sort. South Africa has hosted more traditional annual competitions for almost two decades. Most of these are quite formal affairs with elaborate sets, meticulously crafted speeches and beverages and serious tones and atmospheres. I’ve attended many of these and they are unavoidably the benchmark against which I was comparing this new event. It became pretty clear upon entering the venue that this was going to be something different.

A different approach

Before reflecting on my experience on October 3rd, it’s probably helpful to touch on the philosophy and approach of The Barista League; it is definitely different by design. Perhaps the most profound difference between The Barista League competition and the ones we are more familiar with in South Africa is the required preparation.

Traditional barista competitions allow the competitors to choose their coffee, which has inevitably led to a huge emphasis on lot selection. With the possibility of gaining an advantage by simply selecting a higher-end, more expensive coffee to compete with, a huge part of the preparation is finding and securing those competition coffees. Needless to say, that immediately places a big barrier to entry in front of a potential barista competitor as there are very few baristas in South Africa (or in many other parts of the world) that would have the independent financial means to secure a competition-worthy coffee. In practice that means that successful competitors tend to have big organisations behind them to assist with this process.

At The Barista League competition, every competitor is using the same coffee, provided by the organisers. That completely obviates the coffee-sourcing part of the competition and focuses the baristas on the elements that are the key parts of their jobs: quality beverage preparation, speed, accuracy, and presentation.

While there is huge merit to this idea of a level playing field in any geography, I can’t help but reflect on how important this aspect of the competition is in South African. The unfortunate reality is that baristas tend to earn very modest wages and so affordability is an unavoidable factor in traditional competition preparation and success. The Barista League has found a way to remove that element entirely, and that can only be a good thing for local baristas.

A different focus

This key format difference between The Barista League and other barista competitions is one of many things that shift the focus of the competition from the coffee and other extrinsic factors to the baristas themselves. This is an event that celebrates the skills that these coffee professionals leverage every day in doing their work, and puts them to the test in front of an audience and a panel of judges, on a totally level playing field. This different focus might explain why I saw more new faces among the competitors than I typically do at barista competitions. There were familiar faces on stage, of course, but it wasn’t just the usual suspects.

A different set of tools

While this may not have stood out to everyone in attendance I couldn’t help but take note of the equipment on the stage as well. The competitions that I’ve attended in South Africa historically have generally been sponsored by a small handful of respected international brands, all of which manufacture fantastic tools for the barista, to be sure, but it felt refreshing, and appropriate, to see something different at the centre of the Barista League competition.

The irony is that Cape Coffee Beans has worked with the Rancilio brand for more than a decade—Rancilio manufactures some of our most popular domestic and commercial offerings—but none of us had seen any of Rancilio’s higher-end equipment before this competition. Especially imported for The Barista League event, the competitors worked on the Invicta, and we had the privilege of demonstrating the flagship, Specialty RS1, to the people in attendance. It felt in line with the general theme of including something different from what we’re used to seeing.

A different experience for the attendees

With all of these novel things to experience, I couldn’t help but notice that the event was also very different for the attendees, as much as the competitors. In the crowd were many of the South African coffee industry’s familiar faces, the same ones I see at many other events, but the interactions felt entirely different. There was time and space for longer form conversations, not just fleeting hand-shakes and hellos. The atmosphere made people feel more relaxed, and no one was really there to sell anything, which made it easier for interactions to be led by people’s curiosity rather than their professional goals. I think that was a big part of what made it fun for me to be there, personally.

A different vibe

All of this was helped and amplified by the very different feel of The Barista League event. Instead of the usual trade show dynamic, The Barista League competition felt like it was part-party. From the playlist to the aesthetic, and even to the venue, the evening was thoroughly enjoyable in all its aspects, with a coffee-meets-nightlife atmosphere that seemed to add to everyone’s enjoyment. This event was fun to attend, even for the non-industry people.

Something different is coming next year

Suffice it to say, I’m very excited for next year’s The Barista League competition in Johannesburg, and I expect that many other people will be too. It’s already scheduled for October 4th, 2026. I think this event is going to have a positive and profound impact on the South African coffee industry.

To add to the excitement, our new friends at The Barista League tell me that next year’s competition is going to be even more different from what we’re used to than this year’s was. In keeping with the emphasis on doing things differently, The Barista League is going to be entering a new era of competition with a new format, a new set of rules, and a focus on innovation and leadership.

I’m looking forward to hearing more about what’s in store, and seeing it for myself at next year’s event. I hope to see even more coffee lovers and coffee professionals at The Barista League competition in Johannesburg in 2026.

Did you attend 2025’s Barista League competition in Johannesburg? Would you like to attend in 2026? What are your thoughts on The Barista League’s format? Leave your comments below!

About the author

Phaedon is the founder of Cape Coffee Beans. He's a former strategy consultant turned eCommerce guy who came to South Africa for 6 months and wound up staying more than a decade (and counting). Back in 2013, he decided to try to turn a budding interest in coffee into a business and so Cape Coffee Beans was born. These days he spends most of his time thinking about how to expand the reach and elevate the standards of specialty coffee in South Africa by arming people with the right tools, beans and information.

Cape Coffee Awards 2024

It’s that time of year again! Welcome to another addition of the Cape Coffee Awards! As cliché demands, we tend to get pretty reflective when a new year rolls in, and so we’ve made a tradition of looking back and ranking our items that sold best in various categories over the previous year of sales. 

We added a lot of new stuff to our shelves last year, and we’ve also shaken up some of the categories compared to last year, so while a lot of reigning champs have defended their titles for another year running, there have been a few interesting shake ups too. Read on to find out which machines, brewers, beans and more our customers loved best in 2024!

Please note that this list is purely quantitative. Winners are chosen solely based on sales volume, and are not necessarily our subjective favourites (though some of them certainly are).

Coffee grinders of the year

Aside from your coffee maker or espresso machine itself, your grinder is the most important piece of kit in your brewing arsenal. Don’t take our word for it. Ask any home coffee enthusiast and they’ll likely tell you that their first good grinder was the piece of gear that sent them truly spiraling down the specialty coffee rabbit hole. 

A good grinder is characterised by its adjustment precision and versatility, as well as the consistency of its grind. Nothing contributes more to a consistently good cup of coffee or shot of espresso than a grinder that is easy to operate and reliably consistent. Below you’ll find some of the very best grinders on the market, and our customers’ favourites for 2024.

Entry-level manual grinder of the year

For another year running, Timemore’s Chestnut C2 retains its spot as South Africa’s favourite entry-level manual coffee grinder. You could argue that it’s a little on the pricier end of entry-level, but after just a few uses we’re sure you’d agree that you get your money’s worth out of this now-classic hand grinder.

With a reliable set of 38mm burrs, an easy-to-adjust dial with over 30 clicks to play with, and Timemore’s typically stylish design, the Chestnut C2 is more than capable of grinding for just about any manual brewing method, and offers plenty of manoeuvrability to get the most flavour out of any particular coffee.

Prosumer manual grinder of the year

Also holding onto its position from last year, Commandante’s C40 MK4 was South Africa’s best-loved premium manual grinder for 2024, and if you know anything about it you shouldn’t be surprised. The C40 is an absolute powerhouse of a hand grinder, and essentially an industry staple that features in numerous brewing contests worldwide. 

With its patented Nitro Blade burrs made from high nitrogen martensitic steel, it can tear through even the densest light roast beans with ease, and with some 40 clicks worth of adjustment it can grind for everything from a coarse French press to a fine espresso. Plus, if you find the 30 microns of adjustment per click a bit too broad for you to really fine-tune your espressos, you can add on the Red Clix upgrade to make the C40 truly unbeatable in quality. Really, it’s the grinder that can do it all, and, with its various stunning colour options and stylish bean jars/catch cups, it looks great while it does. 

Electric filter grinder of the year

A familiar name takes this category for another year running too, though in a slightly different form than in years past. Baratza’s Encore electric filter grinder was already tough to beat, but the newer ESP model simply outclasses other grinders in this category. A set of 40mm stainless steel burrs can churn through beans with ease, and with minimal heat or noise too thanks to Baratza’s motor design. What’s more is that the Encore ESP can actually grind for espresso too, thanks to an ingenious adjustment system. While there are 40 clicks worth of adjustment in total, the finest twenty only adjust by half as much as each click of the coarsest 20, making it possible to dial in espresso shots more precisely. That said, we think the Encore ESP shines best as a filter grinder, and it seems that so does the rest of South Africa.

Entry-level espresso grinder

For the third year in a row now, the Mignon Manaule takes the top spot in the entry-level espresso grinder category, proving once again that Eureka’s range of home espresso grinders are top-of-the-line. The Manuale features everything that makes the Mignon series of grinders so coveted, like a powerful set of 50mm hardened steel burrs, stepless micrometric adjustments, and Eureka’s own ACE anti-clumping technology, all fitted into a pretty compact package. 

The only thing it really lacks compared to its Mignon brethren is a digital display and automatic dosing options, but this brings the price down to something remarkably attractive by quality espresso grinder standards, making the Manuale really tough to beat in the entry-level espresso grinder space.

It's worth mentioning that the trusty, tried & tested Rancilio Rocky, a previous winner in this category, still held its own in the entry-level espresso grinder space, and was a close runner up.

Prosumer espresso grinder of the year

Finally, a fresh face! The Rancilio Stile is still a bit of a newcomer to the premium home espresso grinder space, but it’s clearly already made a significant name for itself, narrowly inching out last year’s winner and this year’s runner up, the Eureka Mignon Specialita. 

A set of 58mm burrs and a 1200RPM motor make pretty short work of even those heftier double espresso doses, and a large and bright touchscreen display makes it easy to choose and adjust your two automated dosing options. There’s also a manual option activated by the push of a button right where your portafilter sits if you’re dialing in or topping off a dose. 

Adjustment is manipulated via a snazzy micrometric stepped dial accessible on either side of the machine, with enough options to even grind for filter brews, though we don’t recommend switching between filter brew and espresso settings – dialing back in can be a real pain. 

All of this is packed into an elegant, minimalist package. And, if the asking price is a little high for you, you can still get everything great about the Stile minus the touchscreen and automatic doses if you spring for the Stile SD. 

Single-dose grinder of the year

This is a new category for the Cape Coffee Awards, and we decided to add it in specifically due to the striking popularity of its winner. Timemore’s Sculptor hit our scene right at the beginning of the year, and between its gorgeous design and premium spec sheet it immediately began turning heads. 

Designed from the ground up for single dosing, and available in both filter-only and espresso capable versions, everything about the Sculptor encourages its users to experiment, to try out different beans and get the most out of them every time. That’s where most of the fun in specialty coffee lies, after all.

Timemore is known for the quality of its grinders in particular, and we feel that the Taiwanese brand’s really outdone itself with the Sculptor. Clearly the rest of South Africa’s coffee lovers agree.

Commercial espresso grinder of the year

Commercial grinders face a unique challenge compared to other espresso grinders. They typically have to go through kilos of beans a day and grind out doses quickly and in rapid succession to keep up with customer demand – no small task indeed, but one that the Rancilio Kryo 65 OD is more than up for.

With a beefy set of 64mm burrs, three easily programmable and activated time-based doses, and a throughput of 2.5-3.5 kilograms of beans per hour, the Kryo 65 is a total workhorse, and the perfect companion for even a busy café.

Check out all of our grinders here

Espresso machines of the year

Many enthusiasts consider espresso to be the pinnacle of coffee interest, and equally enjoy the techy, mechanical intrigue of snazzy espresso machines. Given this and how easy it is to geek out over machine specs and features, we think it’s fair to say that this may be the most exciting section of the Cape Coffee Awards, even if its winners are becoming increasingly familiar. 

Entry-level espresso machine of the year

No surprises here, the humble Gaggia Classic (specifically the most current model, the Evo Pro) once again claims the title of South Africa’s most popular entry-level home espresso machine, though the Rancilio Silvia wasn’t far behind this year. 

It’s easy to see why the Classic clinched it, though. Technically, all you need to brew real espresso is a machine that can push water through a puck of coffee at 9 bars of pressure, and the Classic does exactly that for a seriously competitive price by espresso machine standards. It’s compact, reliable, stylish (to certain tastes, in any case) and, best of all, leaves plenty of room for after-market upgrades and accessories. It really is the little espresso machine that could, and has been for its entire life so far. 

Prosumer espresso machine of the year

Rancilio’s entry-level Silvia may have narrowly lost in the entry-level category, but its more talented older sibling, the Silvia Pro X, took the prosumer title once again, and by a large margin too — the runner up Lelit Bianca, though also excellent, comes at a significantly higher price. 

With dual boilers for back-to-back espresso and steamed milk, a built-in PID, and variable soft infusion, the Silvia Pro X boasts all the bells and whistles you’d want for brewing professional-quality espresso and milk drinks, plus a strikingly stylish build, all for a significantly lower asking price than its nearest competitor.

Honestly, you can tell the Pro X exudes quality just by looking at it, let alone touching it, which is exactly why it was 2024’s most popular premium home espresso machine at CCB.

Commercial espresso machine of the year

Rancilio clinches this category once again with another familiar name, the Classe 5 S commercial espresso machine. The Classe 5 is available in one and two group models, with semi-automatic brewing controls and boasts a bevy of premium features, like both boiler and pump pressure gauges, pressure control, and an independent heat exchanger. This all makes it the perfect choice for any new coffee venture, from bustling cafés to smaller setups like mobile coffee trailers and small stands. 

What’s more is that the two group model is also available with a gas-heated boiler option which might not be as coveted as it was at the height of load shedding (touch wood), but still cuts the Classe 5’s energy use, and therefore your electricity bill, pretty dramatically. All of this and a very reasonable asking price by commercial espresso machine standards is exactly why Rancilio’s Classe 5 was our most popular commercial machine for the third year in a row. 

Browse espresso machine here

Other coffee brewers

Of course, there’s more to coffee, particularly specialty coffee, than espresso. After all, most coffee lovers’ gateway drug into the world of coffee as a whole is something manual and filter-based, like a French press/plunger or moka pot, depending on your household. Below are some of our customers’ favourite coffee making devices for 2024, from instantly recognisable manual brewers to more hands-off automatic machines. 

Coffee maker of the year

No surprises here — it’s Bialetti’s Moka Express again. Though unseated by the Hario V60 last year (which is this year’s runner up), the Moka Express had an absolutely belter year in 2024, and was our most-purchased coffee brewer by far. 

Not only is the Moka Express easy to use, it’s also pretty darn durable, making it perfect for any brewing environment, from the kitchen to the campsite. It can also last a lifetime if cared for properly, and we regularly have folks come in to buy spares for moka pots that have been in their family for literal generations. Some may call it old-fashioned, but we like to call it timeless. 

There’s no debate to be had — the near-century old Bialetti brand and its Moka Express brewers are coffee royalty, and will in all likelihood remain so for a long time to come.

Take a look at more coffee brewers here

Batch-brewer of the year

We skipped this somewhat unorthodox category in 2023, but we’ve decided to bring it back once again, mostly because we saw some pretty high-demand for batch brewers (also known as electric filter or drip coffee machines). 

Technivorm’s MoccaMaster KBG Select came out ahead this year, and it’s clear why. Its retro-aesthetic and range of flashy colour options are reminiscent of your classic American diner-style filter coffee brewer, though rest assured that this brewer makes much better coffee. 

With a precisely controlled heating element and pulse-pouring system meant to imitate hand-pouring, a gentle heating pad that won’t cook your coffee in the server, and automated full and half batch options, the MoccaMaster KBG select is a versatile, consistent, quality electric filter coffee brewer that’s perfect for both home and office use. The only thing it doesn’t do is grind its own beans — we can’t leave it all to the machines now.

Browse batch brewers

Bean-to-cup machine of the year

Or can we? Well, while we at CCB enjoy the time and intentionality involved in manual brewing and all its component steps, we recognise that some coffee-lovers value ease-of-use and convenience just as much, particularly in busy contexts like an office or on frantic workday mornings when you don’t have time to go through a whole coffee ritual to get your fix. For this, good bean-to-cup machines can be just the ticket.

Gaggia reappears in our list to take the win in this category with its excellent Cadorna automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine. With a quick heat boiler, easy-to-read digital interface, and a host of adjustment and profiling settings, the Cadorna can brew 6 to 14 different beverage options (depending on whether or not you spring for the version with the automated milk frother) at the push of a button, and offers a host of customisation options so you can have your coffee just how you like it — all at the mere push of a button. 

And, because it’s Gaggia rather than a generic kitchenware brand, you can be sure that the Cadorna was designed and built by people with a genuine love for and understanding of coffee, so the quality of your beverages is all but guaranteed.

See our range of automatic bean-to-cup machines

Accessories of the year

This is a bit of an oddball category full of items that don’t seem to have much in common at first glance, but that doesn’t diminish their importance. These peripheral bits and pieces are the unsung heroes of any coffee devotee’s arsenal, and are all but essential to consistently making delicious coffee, and taking your brewing game to the next level. 

Scale of the year

You could easily argue that a scale, alongside a grinder, is the most essential coffee-making tool you could own. Quite simply, it’s the only reliable way you could hope to know what your brewing recipe actually is, and the only thing that can tell you what to repeat or change, as the case may be, to get the best results with your brewing. And not just any scale will do. While the kitchen scale you didn’t realise you had might be fine when you’re just starting out, for coffee you really want something that at the very least can weigh in 0.1g increments, and you usually want something with a built-in timer too.

Though most famous for its range of handheld espresso brewers, it was the Exagram coffee scale that shone the brightest out of Wacaco’s catalogue in 2024, and for very good reason. The Exagram, like most of Wacaco’s products, is an eminently portable and reliable scale that fits right in your pocket. It’s splash proof, so don’t worry about damaging the internals with a little spillage, and because it lacks some of the more advanced features of more premium coffee scales it’s also very well priced, making it an attractive buy for any fledgling home brewer or as a secondary travel scale for the established enthusiast. 

Puck-prep accessory of the year

This is a new category for the Cape Coffee Awards, but one we think deserves to be included now more than ever. When it comes to espresso, aside from your grind, the most important factor that influences the quality of your shot is easily your puck prep, how you distribute the grinds around your portafilter before tamping, locking, and pulling your shot. As the specialty coffee and home espresso scene expands, and as once-niche knowledge becomes more ubiquitous, more and more home baristas are starting to recognise the importance of good puck prep, and so good puck prep gear has rapidly become a hot commodity.

Undoubtedly one of the most effective puck prep tools is a wire distribution tool (WDT), so it makes total sense that this year’s most popular puck-prep accessory was the Brew Tool Coffee Needle. Like any good WDT, the Coffee Needle rakes through the ground coffee in your portafilter with ease, allowing you to gently distribute your grounds and break up any clumps that would otherwise cause channelling. It’s tough to overstate just how much of a difference this can make to your espresso, but even small espresso tools have a tendency to cost an arm and a leg. Fortunately, Brew Tool’s WDT sports an appealingly modest price tag, which is why it was so attractive to our customers in 2024.

Entry-level espresso accessory of the year

As mentioned, espresso can be a pricey game, even when you’re just looking for something small and simple. Fortunately, there are still plenty of budget-friendly items available designed to improve your workflow, and make your morning routine a little easier and more enjoyable, such as the Sonner Knock Box.

Winning this category for the second year running now, the Sonner is a slightly unorthodox little knock box that ditches the usual cross bar and square look for something more oblong with a sort of ledge at the back. You might be a little sceptical about it at first, but this design actually makes the knock box easier to clean. Trust us; we use it every day. It’s also made of durable, BPA-free plastic and features a handy no-slip rubber bottom, and, if you want to, you can get it with our logo slapped across it to show your support for your favourite one-stop coffee supply shop.

Premium espresso accessory of the year

On the other end of the espresso accessory spectrum is the premium category, where eager aficionados can push the boundaries of optimisation, efficiency, and extraction. After all, if you’re serious enough about espresso to be brewing it at home, you probably want to get the most out of your setup.

For those committed espresso experts (or experts in the making), their favourite piece of premium espresso equipment for 2024 was the IMS Precision Espresso Filter Basket.

For those in the know, IMS hardly needs an introduction, and has been engineering top-of-the-line espresso accessories for nearly 80 years now. Their premium espresso baskets can be found in the best cafés in the world, and feature a unique shape and patented perforation style. These baskets are engineered to optimise extraction, aid puck drying and expulsion, and simplify cleaning—all of which elevate your espresso and workflow, whether you’re a home enthusiast or a professional barista behind the bar. 

Browse all of our accessories here

Coffee books of the year

Once you start seeing coffee as more than just your daily caffeine delivery device and begin crawling down the hobbyist rabbit hole, the first thing you tend to learn is that there’s a lot to learn. From the various coffee origins to different styles of brewing, the intricacies of the coffee supply chain to what it takes to run a successful café, there are tons of little nodes of coffee-centric knowledge to get obsessed with. Call us old-fashioned, but we think that one of the most engaging ways to learn is with a good book, and fortunately for us there are now plenty of coffee-related books available to the studious coffee lover. Check out some of South Africa’s favourites in 2024.

Best book for beginners

The inimitable James Hoffman took this category again in 2024, though this time with his other coffee tome, How To Make the Best Coffee at Home. Between its stylish hard covers you’ll find a wealth of knowledge covering just about everything (and we mean everything) that you should consider if you’re determined to make the best coffee possible at home. 

With the distinctly digestible delivery that makes Hoffman such an approachable coffee authority, How To Make the Best Coffee at Home covers everything there is to know about coffee from the home enthusiast, from shopping for good beans and caring for your brewing gear to the basic principles of every conceivable style of coffee brewing. He also includes repeatable brewing recipes for each method, giving you the perfect jumping off point to start experimenting.

Best book for professionals

Once again, What I Know About Running Coffee Shops won in the professional book category for 2025, and it’s not surprising why. Running a coffee shop takes a lot more than making good coffee, and anyone who’s done it will tell you that it can be a seriously daunting task. 

Fortunately, four-time Irish Barista Champion Colin Harmon has condensed everything he’s learned running the internationally renowned 3fe Coffee in Dublin (and his various other coffee ventures) into a 227 page book that we feel is required reading for anyone thinking of getting into the professional field of coffee. Seriously, if you're planning to run (or are already running) a coffee business, you should read this book.

Check out more books here

Top 3 coffee brands of the year

Here at last! Welcome to the final and likely the most auspicious category of the Cape Coffee Awards: coffee, of course. Though we think all of our partnered coffee roasters are winners, below are the top three roasters whose coffee was best loved (in terms of sheer volume) by our customers for the year 2024. We’d love to be able to rank each of them on a coffee by coffee basis, but given the sheer number of coffees we’ve been lucky enough to try this year we’d probably be at it until 2026. 

3. Truth. Coffee Roasting

Truth. is essentially Cape Town royalty at this point. Their steampunk-themed café and HQ on Buitenkant Street was named the best café in the world by The Telegraph in 2016, and continues to feature on numerous dining and touring recommendation lists today. Their roastery’s motto is “We roast coffee — properly”, and clearly our customers, both in Cape Town and around the country, agree,

Find out more about Truth here on our blog or here on our podcast, and pick up a bag of their delicious coffee beans right here.

2. Cedar

Maintaining their spot at second on our roaster podium this year is Cedar! The passion project of “two simple guys from Cape Town”, Cedar is still one of the younger names in the specialty coffee space, making it all the more impressive that they’ve shot to stardom so quickly.

Impressive, but perhaps not surprising given the pedigree of Cedar’s owners. Winston Thomas has been the South African barista champion a handful of times in his coffee career, and Leigh Wentzel (previously Rosetta’s roastery manager) was for a time on the team that won Coffee Magazine’s Roastery of the Year award in 2018 and 2019. 

Winston and Leigh have actually just expanded their staff for the first time, so they’re no longer doing everything themselves, but their new team members, like them, are totally committed to making specialty coffee more accessible and showing South Africa, as they put it, “how deep the rabbit hole goes”.

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

1. Tribe

Taking the top spot for the 5th year in a row now is none other than Tribe, the roastery that is clearly still “roasting the coffee that people want to drink”, to the surprise of no one on the CCB team. If you ever visit us in-store in Claremont try asking someone just how much Guatemala Chocolate Block we tend to sell on a weekly basis. 

Tribe is a staple name in the South African coffee scene at this point, headed by industry vets and devoted to providing delicious coffee to its sprawling customer base. They tend not to venture much into the realm of fruity, light roast specialty coffees, but they occupy the classic coffee niche with a reliability and a quality that has built them a consistent customer-base in the thousands. 

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 here. And, if you want to buy some Tribe beans, click right here.

See all of our partnered roasters here

A note about all of our coffee partners

While we’ve chosen to spotlight just 3 of our partnered coffee roasters for the purpose of this list, we firmly believe that each coffee brand we work with is exceptional and shines in its own way. Coffee is a huge industry no matter where you go, and, as you can tell by our list here, we only work with a handful of roasters we believe offer something of the very best for every occasion, budget, and taste preference. Otherwise, we wouldn’t work with them! 

To all of our roasters, know that we appreciate you, and we’re grateful for your continued support and partnership. As always, we’re looking forward to all of the fantastic coffee you have in store for us in 2025. 

What’s next?

If you’re reading this section, wow, thank you. These lists aren’t short, so we appreicate you taking the time to read all the way through to the end. 

Moreover, we want to take a moment to thank each and every one of our brilliant customers, old and new, who supported us through 2024. It’s been a big year, what with both Specialty Expos and a slew of events in our new retail space, and while working at CCB is its own reward a lot of the time, obviously we couldn’t do it without you. As always, we’re entering the new year with excitement for what’s to come and, as always, a commitment to being the best one-stop coffee shop we can be for you. Here’s to 2025. Let’s make it another big one. 

What do you think about our list? Have any thoughts on the winners? Any categories you think we could include next year? Let us know in the comments!

Once again, thanks for reading, and from all of us at CCB:

Happy brewing!

Reflections on the Johannesburg Specialty Coffee Expo

Recently, I was lucky enough to travel with part of the Cape Coffee Beans team to the Johannesburg Specialty Coffee Expo (SCE). In its third year, the relatively young annual event had already received positive reviews from many of our partners in the industry, and we were keen to check it out, especially after the fun we had at the first Cape Town instalment of the SCE last year.

It was a wonderful experience and I left impressed with everything from the venue to the organisers, the exhibitors to the attendees. I know we’ll be back next year, but I felt compelled to document some of the impressions that this special event left on me. Here are some that I wanted to share, in no particular order of importance.

Cape Coffee Beans has friends in Gauteng, many of whom we’ve never met

Part of the fun for all of the team members that attended was the chance to interact with customers who we’d not yet had the chance to meet in person. Rather conspicuously branded in our CCB t-shirts, we all enjoyed being approached by people who recognised the Cape Coffee Beans logo.

Personally, I was thrilled not only by the number of customers that happened to be at the Expo, but also to hear first-hand how many of them had been shopping with us for years. It was a pleasant reminder of how many supporters we have in other parts of the country, including our metropolis. Serving them as well as we possibly can remotely is something that’s an extremely high priority for us. In this way the Expo served to reaffirm why we do what we do.

The specialty coffee industry has come leaps and bounds in recent years

The other thing that immediately struck me as I wandered around the Expo on the first day, taking in the brand names, many of which I hadn’t heard before, tasting the incredible coffees and soaking up the atmosphere, is just how far the specialty coffee industry in South Africa has come in the last decade. The Specialty Coffee Expo left no doubt about the growth in the space; from the thousands of attendees to the exceptional coffee being served, there were clear signs that there is in fact a strong specialty coffee community here in South Africa.

The sheer quality of the coffee on offer also struck me. I tried coffee from many roasters I’d never even heard of, and in almost all cases, I was thrilled with the flavour of what I was served. It wasn’t just the fact that there were so many high-quality coffees available; it was the realisation that many of the roasters had only been up and running for a couple of years, but were already sourcing and roasting such special lots. I feel compelled to mention that I always asked where roasters I hadn’t encountered before were based and invariably (with only a couple of exceptions), the answer was Pretoria. It seems that there’s something interesting happening in that part of the country!

I also think it’s worth acknowledging that one of the things that has allowed the industry to grow in the way it has is the availability of specialty green (unroasted) coffee in South Africa. Never before have small-scale roasters had access to such quality or variety. I know that a new generation of importers and distributors have played a big role in this, and their coffees featured at many of the stands I visited. I think Sabores, And Sons, and Zuka deserve special mention.

Last but not least, I was also pleasantly surprised to see the sheer appetite for premium specialty coffee among the visitors to the Johannesburg Specialty Coffee Expo. Nowhere was this more visible than around the cupping table, which featured a new session every hour. It also was made clear by the prices that many consumers were willing to pay for the very best and rarest lots available to taste at each stand. Clearly, there is a newfound understanding of the inherent value of top-end specialty coffee, and it seems that many Joburg coffee-lovers are willing to pay for it. I think that’s a great thing for everyone, all along the supply chain, from the roasters, all the way back to the farmers.

We work with some of the best roasters in the country

Having given some very deserved praise to a few of our new roasting friends, I should now mention that at the SCE I was also reminded of the fact that we’re lucky at CCB to already work with many of the best specialty roasters in the country, some of whom were in attendance with us or exhibiting at the Joburg Specialty Coffee Expo. Our partners include new brands making a splash, like Cedar, but also businesses that have been around for many years like Origin, Truth, Tribe & Bean There. These partners were there, and even if most of them are of an older generation than some of the up-and-coming roasters that I’ve mentioned, there was no doubt in my mind that the roasters we work with are still every bit as relevant as they ever were, and serving equally delicious coffees. More than that, it’s also worth acknowledging that they’ve paved the way for the newer generations.

Unfortunately, not all of our roasting partners were at this edition of the Joburg SCE, but I hope to see more of them at future events, including the Cape Town instalment. I firmly believe that they are all of national calibre.

There really is a specialty coffee community

I’ve already made passing reference to the South African specialty coffee community a few times in this post, but I think it’s a concept worth reflecting on in its own right. It’s somewhat ironic that I would be reminded about the importance of community when travelling far from our home base, and to an event I’d never attended before no less, but the weekend really did inspire an overwhelming sense of community in me.

Of course, part of this was shaking hands with and saying hello to industry professionals that I’ve been lucky to know for some time, but I also noticed how many of the people I met for the first time at the Expo were open and friendly in a way that one shouldn’t take for granted.

There seemed to be a recognition among all the participants in the Expo that, despite being competitors on-paper, everyone was participating in this blossoming of the South African specialty coffee space that I tried to describe above. There was a real, palpable sense of a common cause, or at least a common passion. I felt this from most of the exhibitors I spoke with, but also from many of the attendees. Yes, everyone had their own personal interests to advance (as we all do) but there was also a feeling of doing so arm-in-arm with the people around them. It’s a hard thing to really put into words, but I think it was an important part of what made the event special, at least for me.

It seems that there are great things ahead for this industry

Given everything that I’ve described above, it should be no surprise that I have high hopes for the future of the specialty coffee industry in South Africa. It’s not just that we have access to more and better specialty coffee than ever before; it’s not just that we have more and more talented entrepreneurs and artisans entering the space; it’s not even that there are more and more people ready to support this budding industry. It’s all those things combined with the real shared excitement and passion that I see in the community, and that was easy to spot at the Specialty Coffee Expo.

At the risk of employing a cliché, I have this sense that things are only just getting started, and that this industry is going to continue to grow leaps and bounds in the coming years.

We’re all excited for the next SCE

I don’t think it’s overstating it to say that the Specialty Coffee Expo itself is playing an important role in the current growth of the SA specialty coffee scene. The Joburg edition is now in its third instalment, and we’re looking forward to the second Cape Town edition coming up soon. I only met the organisers, Cezanne & Jason, recently, but I’m already so impressed with what they’ve done with this event in such a short time. Aside from their obvious talents for event-planning and organisation, I think it’s clear that they are very much part of the specialty coffee community and that they’ve found a way in which they can significantly contribute to it.

I’m excited about future South African Specialty Coffee Expos, and I am definitely planning to make Cape Coffee Beans part of them. I hope everyone who reads this will be part of them too.

About the author

Phaedon is the founder of Cape Coffee Beans. He's a former strategy consultant turned eCommerce guy who came to South Africa for 6 months and wound up staying for more than a decade (and counting). Back in 2013, he decided to try to turn a budding interest in coffee into a business and so Cape Coffee Beans was born. These days he spends most of his time thinking about how to expand the reach of specialty coffee in South Africa.