The Battle of the Beans winners were announced at a function at RCL Foods, home of Selati Sugar, in Durban 30 January 2025. This competition, which was originally called “The Cafe Society Awards” and run in a prominent Sunday newspaper in KZN for over a decade creating a buzz around coffee culture each year in the province. In fact, this is where our very own Editor, Melanie Winter got her first opportunity to engage in the broader coffee community, with her family cafe featuring prominently for many years. The same group of coffee-loving humans has resurrected the concept under a new name: The Battle Of the Beans run by Coffee-Colab and partnered with Selati Sugar in 2024 to successfully resume the judging and awarding of the best coffee shop experiences in KZN.
The idea is that cafe’s are judged “incognito” meaning that the judges just visit the cafe without the owner/barista’s knowledge and then rate the experience based on a number of criteria, largely around the service, decor, ambience and vibe, and of course, the coffee! With an espresso and a cappuccino being ordered and judged.
Melanie Winter was one of the Finals Round judges and had this to say: "Being part of the Finals Round of judging was a very interesting experience. Firstly to see who was adjudicated to be the top cafes (by area) by judges mostly outside the coffee industry, from food critics to avid coffee drinkers to restauranteurs. A good reminder for me, someone who spends all her time in the coffee world, that specialty coffee is still very niche and that’s ok! Secondly to see that the overall standard was very high; service, community, consistency, beautifully poured coffees and flavours that have come a long way since the last iteration of this competition. Proud of the cafes of KZN overall!”
The awards were handed out to the Top 3 in each area and then Top 3 overall. the Greater Durban area, the Highway area, the North and South Coasts as well as Pietermaritzburg and Midlands areas.
Sbu Nkolothi, owner of The Coffee Lab, located in the Ballito Lifestyle Centre, came away with first place overall. Incredible to see this success story, congratulations to Sbu and Team! You can read about the beginning of the CoffeeLab journey here.
The Barista of the year was from Crane Flower Coffee. This was an interesting one to judge as it was noted that most cafes work in teams behind the espresso machine.
You can see the full list of winners here: https://battleofthebeans.co.za/
