Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 53 i Coffee Magazine

Shannon Black Shannon's experience is rooted in education as a full time teacher, but her passion for coffee and the baristas behind the espresso machine has always been undeniable. Now as a Barista Trainer and Head of Academy for rapidly expanding coffee franchise Platō, she is determined to create a culture of joy and curiosity. Shannon won the 2024 Coffee Magazine Award for Dedication to Education as voted for by her peers. pretoriacoffeegirl Retha van Rhijn Retha van Rhijn, the 2025 South African Cup Tasters Champion, shares her journey from where her passion for tasting began to representing South Africa on the world stage in Switzerland - a path fuelled by curiosity, mentorship, and a deep love for flavour. In this edition, she reflects on the highs and challenges of…

At the Best of Panama (BOP) Auction this year, a rare lot, a washed Geisha varietal from the famed Hacienda La Esmeralda estate, went for a record-breaking $604,080, marking the highest price ever paid for auction coffee in the world. Weighing approximately 20 kilograms, this tiny lot fetched $30,204 (approximately R530 000 per kilogram), smashing all previous records. Truly unbelievable. Panama has always done things a little differently to the rest of the coffee world, creating their own award and quality system, Best of Panama in 1996, which firmly placed it at the centre of the luxury coffee world. This year's BOP Auction was hosted by coffee auction house, M-Cultivo. The record-breaking lot earned 98.00 points, the highest score ever recorded at the competition. Judged by 22 international cupping experts…

June 24th, 10:20am: “Hello my sister!! Any news? ❤❤” Waiting for a travel visa to be approved is a special kind of stress. In my short time on this earth, I've come to realise that life is filled with all sorts of challenging experiences we must navigate. This was a life-changing one I got to share with my good friend, Retha van Rhijn, as we flew halfway across the world in her bid to win the World Cup Taster's Championship. Eight minutes, 24 cups to cup, less than a month to prepare. You can read more on that in the next article, but from my side, I want to share Switzerland, and what we saw and learnt, as we missioned on this epic adventure. June 24th, 10:27am: I stood in…

Storytelling is an essential part of the coffee world. But it can become quite overwhelming. We're consistently bombarded with messaging about who's doing it right, better, best. Who is doing it ethically, morally, respectfully. Who is making it look good. And all those things have their place, but it can be a lot to digest. Sometimes, you just want a good cup of coffee. I had a memorable cup of coffee recently. It was a Sunday morning. It was after a very busy, working weekend with very little sleep. I needed caffeine and I also needed a place to hide in peace. But more than that, and what I didn't realise until the barista starting dancing behind the bar, was how much I needed to smile. I could feel the…

The terms ‘specialty’ and ‘commodity’ are used widely in the coffee industry, but what is their actual meaning? And how does a coffee get designated to one of these categories? The terms have become diluted and are often thrown around quite recklessly as markers of value or moral integrity of a coffee or the businesses working within either category. The truth is, both categories have a deserved place in the industry, and it's not as black and white as we might think. Let's start with some basic, widely accepted definitions: A coffee that is categorised as “specialty coffee” is a coffee that scores over 80 (out of 100) points by a certified Q-grader, all the coffee that doesn't achieve these scores is classified as commodity/commercial coffee. (Ed's note: This system…

Every year the Specialty Coffee Association of South Africa send National Champions to compete on the global stage. Retha van Rhijn is a two time Cup Tasters Champion and she has some insights to share about her experiences and how you can get deeper flavour insight into your daily cup of coffee. Just like the Rolex watches displayed in Geneva's airport, time marches on, the hands moving swiftly since I returned from Switzerland and the World Cup Tasters stage. It's already been three whole months, but it almost feels like it happened over a year ago. It was a truly incredible journey. Testing, most of the time; yet, so rewarding. After winning the SCASA National Cup Tasters title at the beginning of June 2025, there was no time to pause.…

“Last chance for dry fragrance!” I yell to the crowd. They shift toward the cupping table in a squiggly line of excited humans, cupping spoons glinting in hand, “Next we'll inhale the wet aroma on these exclusively South African grown coffees.” It is a strange ritual, cupping coffees. Yet, no matter where you go, from a table on a farm in Rwanda to a high end lab in Tokyo, the protocol is always the same. For this particular cupping, we are standing, through space and time, at Humble Coffee in Durban on a bright winters morning, and again in Cape Town a few months later in the African School of Coffee, with South African coffee professionals crowding around the cupping tables for something quite unique: a table of South African…

One of the things we dearly love about the world of coffee is how much passion there is for everything from brewing equipment, to the coffee itself to cleaning products! A proudly South African based success story is that of Caffenu, a global coffee machine cleaning brand, started in Cape Town by husband and wife team, Rowan and Judy Isaacman. Hearing the stories behind the brands, gives insight into not just the products but also the way a business is grown. This one is, ultimately, a love story. The conversation between these two spans across continents, from tinkering with cars to tinkering with coffee machines for nearly 13 years is a wonderful example of one of Judy's favourite sayings: Anything is Possible. TCM: How did you guys meet? Judy: Honestly…