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Bean There: Johannesburg's Premier Coffee Company

This time I want to introduce Bean There, a coffee company from Johannesburg. Founded in 2002 by the Jonathan Robinson family, Bean There works in fair trade and direct trade procurement, importing green coffee from farms across Africa into South Africa. It roasts at its own facilities in both Cape Town and Johannesburg and sells mostly to coffee shops and other wholesale channels, though it also retails: you can find Bean There beans in supermarkets such as Pick & Pay, in pharmacies like Dis-Chem, and in other retail outlets. Its beans are almost all African and all washed, and its head roaster Cuth reportedly prefers the clean flavor of washed African coffee.

Bean There operates two roasting facilities that double as coffee shops: one on Wale Street in Cape Town, and another at 44 Stanley in Johannesburg. The shop I visited for this shoot was the one at 44 Stanley (see Note 1).

I first heard about Bean There because founder Jonathan's parents are pastors. When I moved back to Johannesburg 3 years ago, the pastor's wife handed me a Bean There business card.

Bean There at 44 Stanley pulls shots on a La Marzocco Strada 3-group espresso machine.

One of Bean There's baristas won the Gauteng Regional Best Espresso at the World Barista Championship.

As mentioned above, the beans come mainly from African countries including Ethiopia, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, and Congo.

Worth noting is Bean There's micro-lot limited edition, Olga Reserve. Olga was Jonathan's grandmother, and she inspired his love of coffee, so the roaster released Olga Reserve in her memory.

Because South Africa's livestock industry is well developed, the milk here is sweet, delicious, and inexpensive, which makes Italian milk-based coffee drinks considerably more affordable than in Taiwan. A cappuccino, for example, costs about 55 Taiwanese dollars (the South African exchange rate has fallen quite a bit in recent years).

On the day I visited I ordered a Kenya cappuccino. The foam was dense and creamy, and Kenya's bright acidity blended well with the milk. Unfortunately, the milk temperature was a little too high.

Note 1: 44 Stanley

44 Stanley is a 1930s industrial factory converted into a small arts and business district, with distinctive boutiques, independent restaurants, delicatessens, second-hand bookstores, and vinyl record shops. It is perfect for spending 3 to 4 hours over a meal, a coffee, and a browse through unusual shops. I did not take many photos that day because a security guard stopped me, saying that photographing within 44 Stanley required the manager's permission. I had assumed the district was not exactly a high-end celebrity hotspot, but apparently even casual tourist photography required approval from the district manager. Since I was a woman traveling here alone without my husband's protection, I put away my camera.

If you have the chance to visit Johannesburg, come to 44 Stanley for a meal, enjoy the city's beautiful weather, and have a cup of coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Bean There's approach, importing green coffee from across Africa and roasting it clean and washed, is the same path FrontStreet Coffee takes with the African origins on its own bean list. Ethiopia sits at the center of that story. FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe is the entry point: a coffee most drinkers meet first, known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body, all at a price that makes it an easy everyday cup. Yirgacheffe itself is a small town in the Sidama zone of southern Ethiopia, sitting at roughly 1,700-2,100 meters, with coffee trees planted above 1,800 meters, making it one of the highest coffee regions in the world.

For something more precise, FrontStreet Geddid Cooperative comes from a processing team in the village of Geddid in the Woka area on the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe. The cooperative was originally part of the Woka cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union; as buyers chased traceability, it became a single-origin site of its own, and it is now farmed by around 300 members. Because the fruit is pulped before drying, the coffee's own aroma comes through cleanly, with citrus and lemon and an elegant white floral note.

These are light and medium-light coffees, so a medium-fine grind with water at 90-91°C keeps the citrus vivid. FrontStreet's recipe for the washed Yirgacheffe is 15 g of coffee at a 1:15 ratio, a 30-second bloom with 30 g of water, then pours to 125 g and finally 225 g, finishing in about 2:00 to 2:10.