The Perfect Coffee
Ten years ago, the difference between ordinary coffee and fancy coffee was the cost of Ricoffy versus that of Nescafé. But sometime between then and now, Capetonian coffee-drinkers started becoming more particular about their caffeine fix and the ever-trendy Mother City had a new flavor of the month to be snobbish about.
Brad Armitage, who, along with Rui Esteves, founded the very successful Vida e Caffè, reckons the global explosion of Starbucks had a profound effect on coffee drinkers. ‘Espresso became the benchmark for experiencing coffee, whether in its purest form or as the base for a flavored or iced coffee,’ he says. ‘We didn’t feel that ripple effect in South Africa until the late 90s, once we had been exposed to it through travel or mainstream media. The “revolution” was a slow build, and 10 years ago, when we opened the first Vida e Caffè [in Kloof Street], the South African coffee scene was generally characterised as cafe culture that meant scrambled eggs and milk tart.’ So was Comrade Vida the trailblazing leader of the revolution? ‘Vida e Caffè had a role to play, but essentially it was the consumers that led the revolution,’ says Armitage. ‘They demanded better, real coffee. Now there must be at least five new roasters in Cape Town alone.’ Roasters go a step further than traditional coffee shops in that they buy raw beans sourced directly from farms and plantations and roast the beans themselves. The roasting method and how soon after roasting the coffee is consumed have a profound effect on the flavor. ‘Hence other smaller establishments started opening up with local roasters and so on. As more speciality roasters and coffee brewers educate the public about what coffee is really about, palates will change.’
‘Coffee has been grown and brewed for hundreds of years. I don’t expect this to go out of fashion. However, people do get caught up in the actual trend … smaller coffee shops are the hip and happening place to be now,’ says Hanno Schwartz, who established Strictly Coffee in 2006 – at the time only the second specialty coffee roaster in the Western Cape.
Recently he caused a stir in coffee circles when he became the first local importer of kopi luwak, aka civet coffee. Made from beans extracted from civet droppings, it is one of the world’s rarest and most expensive coffees at R780 for 250g. Schwartz believes the fact that there are more and more roasters making a living in the Western Cape is an indication of the growing appetite for speciality coffees. ‘In a way, people are going back to basics and that means going back to the land,’ he says. ‘People want to know more about where their food and drink comes from and how it is being produced. That’s why coffee consumers are immersing themselves in the story of coffee. This makes them interested in terroir and the unique taste profile a geographical growing area can impart. They want to explore different regions, different coffee varieties and discover what makes them distinctive.’ Is coffee becoming the new wine? Talk on the streets of Cape Town seems to indicate that it is, with coffee tastings growing in popularity as converts learn to identify varietals and flavours.
Roasting in Progress
‘Coffee is certainly a topic of interest in the way that wine is,’ says Schwartz. ‘Just like with wine, people want to know … how it has been grown and treated, how it is roasted and blended, who is making it and something of their personal story and their passion for coffee.’ But he reiterates that not everyone is snobbish about coffee, and the public is genuinely showing a preference for speciality coffee over mass-produced alternatives. According to Schwartz, people can taste the difference and are prepared to make a change, even if it means having fewer cups. Ironically, just as the fledgling culture of ‘real’ coffee is becoming more established, it may already be under threat. Coffee prices are going up and the public can soon expect to pay considerably more for a cup of joe than they’ve become accustomed to. Bolus predicts the going rate for a good cup of coffee to be between R25 and R30 in the not-too-distant future. ‘There are a variety of factors pushing the coffee prices up,’ he says. ‘One of them being climate change, and how the footprint of ideal growing locations is getting smaller. We should ask ourselves the question about other necessity things we consume regularly. When bread go up, it’s due to various factors, like transportingprices costs and labour prices. We seem to adjust to this but when it comes to coffee, people don’t see what goes on behind the machine: where the raw coffee comes from, who’s farming, how it’s getting here, roasting, right up until it gets in your cup.’
So what makes a good cup of coffee? Schwartz says it starts with the green bean – how it is cleaned, dried and roasted – and that the barista plays the critical role of preparing a cup to perfection, a science in its own right. Bolus says it’s about working with the correct roasters who source their green beans from speciality farmers. Perfect knowledge of how to brew espresso and the correct attitude are also key for him. For Armitage, it’s simply about having a good bean, a clean machine, and a barista who really cares about each and every shot. As for whether this is the start of a national cultural revolution or just the latest Cape Town craze, the jury’s still out. Schwartz says ‘coffee culture is not only a Cape Town thing, but it seems the boutique coffee roasters are. We found it very interesting that you don’t find very many boutique roasters in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Article courtesy of BA.comm in Flight Magazine July 2011
