Coffee is great, but so is the earth. Let’s go on a coffee date to some of the best local eco-friendly cafes around
1. Manya Coffee | Montebello Design Centre, Newlands, Cape Town
This coffee company hosts a small coffee shop in the Montebello Design Centre in Newlands, Cape Town – among an array of other exciting and vibrant small cafes, delis and artisanal shops. One of the founders of Manya Coffee hails from a long line of coffee farmers and producers – starting the first Ugandan coffee shop in Uganda. This company is all about using locally sourced coffee beans from great coffee producers, giving them more from every sale of the roasted coffee they make. The store is quaint and homely under the trees – and the coffee is divine!
2. The Bean Green Coffee Company | Bulwer, Durban
This coffee company has humble beginnings, starting with a man called the ‘Master Roaster’ who dreamed of roasting his own coffee. These coffee peeps love roasting their own locally sourced Ethiopian Arabica beans, and making really good coffee from it. They source and roast their own beans on-site, so expect heavenly aromatic, fruity and full-bodied coffee – nothing added, just coffee (with a dash of love, perhaps).
3. Naked Coffee | Sandton, Johannesburg & Sea Point, Cape Town
This coffee company has two locations – one in Johannesburg, and one in Cape Town – but each one serves superbly scrumptious meals and roasted 100% Arabica bean coffee. They are one of the stockists of 4WKS Coffee, a South African coffee brand that produces recycled Nescafé pods to sustain a more environmentally friendly way of consuming coffee. They serve artisanal, healthy meals, good vibes and really good coffee.
4. Double Shot | Oxford Parks, Johannesburg
Doubleshot Coffee & Tea is here to show us that coffee is a luxury. They specialise in ethical brews of their own locally grown, processed, roasted, blended sources of amazing coffee that they choose based on quality and season. With a vast range of teas and coffees, this spunky company also sells their own blends and home-blended coffee beans to the public – so you can be your own artisanal coffee barista.
5. Bean There | Wale Street, Cape Town
If ‘committed to finding the best quality coffee’ were people, it would be the Bean There team. They source from local farmers in Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and DR Congo, who they pay using fair-trade methods so that they can keep business sustainable and meaningful. The store has a vintage feel and decor, with bar stools, fresh white walls and coffee-making accessories displayed on the shelves. This coffee is definitely for those who appreciate the efforts of an excellently hand-selected and roasted-to-perfection cup of coffee.
6. Love Coffee | Windermere, Durban
These coffee roasters love coffee and the planet. They’re all about serving good-quality vegetarian, eco-friendly food and coffee that leave a low-carbon footprint. With skilled baristas brewing local coffee by Colombo Tea and Coffee Merchants, they are all about the Earth first, coffee second. Their shops are cute and earthy, and they also have a 1976 VW Kombi that they drive around festivals and markets.
7. Nourish’d Coffee | Observatory/Kloof Street, Cape Town
Filled to the stoep with plants and greenery, Nourish’d Café is just as the name suggests: a plant-based and zero-waste cafe, serving vegetarian and vegan products that range from juices to merch on their online store. They are at their core on a mission to prove that delicious, nutritious food can be kind to both humans and the Earth. They focus on sustainability through sourcing mainly plant-based, local and ethically sourced products – they have also shifted their packaging from glass to rPET and takeaway items. They collect these containers through different collection sites through the city, and recycle them again – the embodiment of the 3 Rs.
Words by Saadiqah Schroeder
Photography: Courtesy Images
