What is Coffee Reviews?

Everything you ever wanted to know about coffee – what it is, where it comes from, how to make it, who makes the best, and when and why to drink it. The answer to the last two are easy – whenever you can, and because you can.

Seriously, with over 100 coffee shop reviews, detailed information on how to buy and brew coffee, and lots of useful, not so useful, and basically useless but entertaining info about the world’s favourite beverage, this is the guide the coffee nerd – or aspiring coffee nerd.

This is a coffee guide with an opinion. It is not some bland PR list of places to go.

I’ve visited more than 200 coffee shops and some are simply not good enough. I’ve travelled over 12 000 km in search of good coffee. I’ve survived terrible potholes, dangerous drivers, heart pulpitations and double vision. Having drunk up to 20 cups of coffee in a single day in this quest to share good coffee shops with you. This might sound like a fortunate experience but, I’ve also had to endure burnt toungues, scalded milk, suspicious owners, indifferent baristas and disinterested waiters.

Finding a beautifully extracted, well presented espresso makes it all worthwhile. It’s been interesting travelling around South African seeing all the different preferences of how coffee is roasted and brewed has given me an overview of the coffee culture in South Africa. People that like coffee are nice people. Meeting baristas and their customers that share the love of coffee was heart warming. And through this journey I have made of good friends.

Friends have been badgering me for years to put together a list of coffee shops to go to. And here it is…

So, how are these reviews done?

I tried to make these reviews as unbiased as possible. None of the cafés were warned in advance of my visit. I ordered the coffees and reviewed them. I realise that it is possible that the barista pulled a “bad” shot or was having a bad day, or perhaps someone else was filling in for them at the café. But, the same situation could happen to any customer, so I decided to review the coffee as it was presented on the day.

Some cafés I would like to have included, but they were closed, so it was not possible.

I tried as much as was feasible to follow WBC (World Barista Championships) Judge’s protocol.

The minimum standard here is good. And we move on up from there to exceptional, read lifechanging.