By Ayanda Dlamini
In Johannesburg’s coffee scene, he’s known for two things: a passion for a perfectly brewed cup and his constant companion - a little dog named Coco (@coco_the_cutie_jhb), who’s as much a part of the adventure as he is.
Known simply as The Joburg Coffee Dude, Anton has become known for his Instagram page that’s as much a guide to great coffee spots in JHB, as it is a celebration of the city’s coffee community. Anton has grown to become a trusted voice for us coffee enthusiasts across Johannesburg.
Today we get to know a little of the man behind the handle and catch a glimpse of what drives him to capture Joburg’s coffee culture one cup at a time.
What inspired you to start the Joburg coffee dude page, and how has it evolved since its inception?
I have a fitness page on instagram (@anton.v.fitness) where I posted mostly fitness content, as a personal trainer I started drinking lots of coffee and over time coffee became a passion of mine where I started visiting more coffee shops, creating more coffee content and my fitness content took a backseat, then one day I thought - let me start a coffee page and see what happens. That’s when the Joburg coffee dude was born.
This page was obviously just about coffee, so I started posting more and more content and that’s when coffee shops and the Joburg coffee community started taking my coffee posts seriously and the page just grew, and the engagement has been amazing. And over the last year or so, I have collaborated and worked with a few coffee shops, brands and the page has become pretty popular especially “My top 3 coffee spots” in Joburg that I post every month.
What elements do you think make a coffee community truly special in a city like Joburg?
We all know coffee and community go hand in hand. All the different coffee spots have their own community and that’s also what I love about visiting different coffee spots, I meet so many people and what makes Joburg so special is that people are so friendly and welcoming, so you always feel part of the community doesn’t matter where you go. And now recently coffee shops and running clubs are working together, so I particularly love the running and coffee community, and like I said, I just meet so many like minded people and have made many friends just through coffee.
You’ve been spotted holding signs like “drink lekker coffee” in public. What's the story behind that?
My motto is “Drink lekker coffee” and I always tell people to drink lekker coffee, life is too short for bad coffee. The sign was inspired by “Dude with a sign” on instagram that always stands in public with different signs, so I thought, I am going to make a sign and stand on Rivonia road with my sign and see how people react. The coffee lovers enjoyed it, they hooted and waved and also I got some great content that did well on instagram – its definitely not something you see everyday, so that’s cool, people must know I mean business.
Where do you see The Joburg Coffee Dude in the next few years?
Like I said the page has really grown nicely and I have worked with a few coffee shops/ brands so the plan is to grow the page a lot more, work with more coffee brands and then in the future I would really love to have my own coffee shop – that’s the big goal. Because I am into fitness I would really love to have a coffee shop in a gym or a coffee shop with a running club, that’s definitely the main goal.
