The long-awaited Cape Town Coffee Festival’s successful debut has further enhanced the Central City’s vibrant and growing coffee culture.
The two-day festival, held at the historic Castle of Good Hope at the beginning of June, was a veritable celebration of Africa’s coffee scene. Over 65 exhibitors participated in the event, which was based on successful programmes in London, Amsterdam and New York.
Festival-goers were treated to an array of experiential features, including Latte Art Live, The Small Business Lab, The Coffee Cocktail Bar and a Live Music stage. Latte “art” was the order of the day, with professional baristas, including South Africa’s Latte Art Champion, Christopher Abrahams, and South Africa’s Barista Champion, Winston Thomas, wowing audiences with their creativity and latte art techniques.
It wasn’t all fun and games, though: experts from The Small Business Lab shared their knowledge and experience with small business owners through interactive talks, lectures and thought-provoking debates, with industry leaders revealing current trends, giving advice on how to set up the ultimate coffee shop and exploring the history of coffee.
A HUGE SUCCESS
Coffee lovers who attended the event, which was organised by Allegra, were impressed with its scale and variety. Says Allegra CEO Jeffrey Young: “We have had an unbelievably positive response from both the coffee community as well as the general public. Most vendors have expressed their intention to return next year with a bigger presence due to the value they received from the event. Few expected it to be as large as it was."
He says consumers and coffee-lovers alike expressed surprise at the scale of the event, the beauty of the Castle location and the range of vendors and coffee and cultural experiences on offer.
“We would just really like to thank the SA coffee community and the people of Cape Town for the incredibly warm reception … next year will be bigger and better, and the festival will be jam-packed with new experiences, and of course lots more great coffee."
MORE THAN JUST A COFFEE FESTIVAL
The event was a festival with a difference: Profit from sales will be donated to Project Waterfall that partners with South African charities supporting local life-changing projects, such as The Woza Coffee School. Woza is a charitable trust that trains township youth to become baristas while also connecting them to their first job.
“We are still finalising all the costs, but final profits will be small or most likely negative for this first launch year. However, in keeping with our charity pledge, we have just donated R60 000 to Woza,” Jeffrey confirms.
“The event also achieved other contributions for other charitable causes, including The Department of Coffee in Khayelitsha, which received R1 300 as well as milk donations for their coffee shop. Various introductions have been made between small start-ups and larger brands to provide opportunities for further social development.”
CONSOLIDATING THE CITY CENTRE’S COFFEE CULTURE
According to data from the CCID’s The State of Cape Town Central City Report: 2018 – A year in review, there are 58 coffee shops in the Cape Town CBD. There’s no question that this number has increased. Several Central City coffee shops were at the festival, including Kamili Coffee (29 Shortmarket & Long streets), Truth Coffee (36 Buitenkant St), House of Machines (84 Shortmarket St) and Seattle Coffee Company and Vida e Caffè.
For a list of some of the coffee shops across the CCID’s four precincts, click here.
IMAGES: Scott Arendse, CCID online coordinator