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What began as a small passion project in their garage, has grown into a fundamental space for coffee lovers in Klerksdorp. Six years ago, married couple Pieter and Maryke Schoonwinkel started roasting coffee to share with local customers and church groups, embracing their love for coffee and community.
Their ethos is simple yet powerful: there’s no hierarchy to coffee and good coffee should be accessible to everyone. Now, Brüder Coffee has grown far beyond their garage, becoming a beloved spot in Klerksdorp and a place that welcomes everyone, with a great cup of coffee and a warm atmosphere.
The term “Bru” is a familiar one to many South Africans. What inspired the choice of “Bruder” for your brand ?
We are a married couple that fell in love with coffee and just couldn’t keep it for ourselves anymore...so we started BRUDER Coffee Roastery out of our passion and love for coffee & people!
BRUDER is German for Brother, which is a TRUE FRIEND that will never leave you! We want to be like a brother for our customers...always there to help and guide them in their coffee journey! Our slogan says "EVERY BRU MATTERS" meaning every coffee brew matters to us and every brother (bru) also matters to us! “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love” is a phrase we live by!
A part of your story is wanting to improve the coffee culture in Klerksdorp. How do you envision doing that, and what changes would you like to see?
We want to roast the best quality coffee for discerning coffee shops, businesses & individuals! We believe that good coffee is for everyone. Our heart is to educate people wherever we go and introduce them to the world of coffee. Coffee is a tool that brings people together to have fellowship. We started with a few regular customers in Klerksdorp and we can proudly say that the coffee culture has grown ever since we started. We are educating people by hosting coffee pairings, barista courses and by including random people in our coffee shops for cuppings. It is so nice to hear their comments when we cup a commodity coffee and then a specialty coffee - one used an expression: "dit proe soos 'n partytjie in my mond".
(meaning: tastes like a party in my mouth!)
Do you source your beans locally, and what can you share about the uniqueness of the coffee you serve?
Yes we source our beans locally and like to support a few importers in SA like Zuka, Marunic, AndSons, Sabores and Ikusasa. We love a medium roast and we have been serving the Little Bro Blend since the day we hosted our first coffee event. The blend is a real crowd pleaser! It is a blend between Colombia & Ethiopia! We also serve Specialty coffee in two of our shops and we do batch bru!
What are your future goals for Bruder Coffee as you continue to grow in Klerksdorp’s coffee scene?
Our dream has always been to have our own space where we can be creative and plan the building according to our needs. And we are so grateful that we have now found the perfect location where we can live out our passion in Klerksdorp! This space will be the main branch. We are also planning on moving the roastery to this new space. We are also busy building a Bruder Coffee Cube for Die Park Sentrum that is portable and we want to duplicate this concept in other towns. Our future goal is to expand to other towns and or cities to spread brotherly love all over South Africa!
