I chat to a young couple from Germany, while inhaling an excellent cortado ‘sculpted’ by Barista Amo at Fifth Wave Coffee.
They concur enthusiastically that this is some of the best they have ever had . . .
It is great to hear foreigners singing the praises of our local baristas and their expertise.
My eye catches the Coffee Magazine. Lo and behold – our best caffeine gurus feature in a five page spread by Iain Evans. He writes about coffee in the land of world’s best right hand point break– referring to Jeffreys Bay’s world class waves and pristine beaches – but pointing out that a coffee shop crawl produced by “some colourful locals” . . . riding the “wave of incredible coffee”.
Jeffreys Bay is a virtual rich mine of this liquid black gold. Resident coffee lovers and connoisseurs are privileged to have the industry’s cream of the crop and are spoilt for choice. There are roasters, competition winners, course lecturers, brilliant baristas and, of course, the aromatic elixer.
JBay lives its coffee culture with zest.
Jeffreys Bay boasts world chef Jayne Davies’ InFood stable with four top spots, each with a distinct flair and character as well as her winning team of baristas, like Percy, Nigel and Belinda.
Around the corner is the welcoming First Light where you smell Ansophi roasting beans, Maxine and Heinrich Thiart brewing cups of comfort. My guilty pleasure is the peanut butter ice-cream drowned in a potent espresso.
Machine’s Jaco serves his beverage with candied orange rind on a clean-cut, modern display.
The creative artistry of Amadeo Bi-sogno and Rueben Conradie at Fifth Wave, aptly named in a surf crazy town, is a taste fest. They are inventors of intricate brews, which bodes well for the future of coffee.
