Ah 2026! It has come quickly and it has come with a fierceness no one could have predicted. And in the chaos of current global politics, a coffee price that has remained alarmingly high over the last year and many moments of AI-fuelled nonsense, we bring you Print Edition - Issue 54.
Just look at this cover for a moment. We hope it makes you smile as much as it did us. Look at this joy. Take a second to feel hopeful about the future.
We don't often put people on the cover these days, because it is difficult to single out just a few when here are so many deserving coffee people. But now more than ever, it's important to remember our humanity, in the hope that it will keep us strong and united.
We had such an amazing time at the Coffee Magazine Awards 2025 and we had a special shoot for all the winners. You will find their beautiful portraits in the (glossy for a change as the images demanded it!) pages of this magazine. And this particular image, that eventually landed on the cover, was an outtake really. Three humans enjoying the moment, trying to relax in front of a camera and celebrating a win.
They each have a story: one is an educator, one has just started their career in coffee as a barista, one has represented her country on the World Stage (twice!). To us, they represent the heart of coffee culture. Humans trying their best.
What more can we ask for.
The rest of the magazine is full of slowing down, appreciating ancient (and more recent) traditions of fermentation, going on road trips and taking coffee with and getting our heads around coffee business at scale.
Discover: Fermentation, Close Up
Sourdough Bread. Kimchi. Of course, coffee. The process that leads to some of the most delicious parts of life. This is a close up on fermentation, but in no way an exhaustive study. If anything, we hope it inspires you to ask questions of the food that you put in your body: how it was made, who made it and what your part is in the story being told.
Brew: Dripping with Flavour
Taste, texture and quality matter as much as convenience. And premium coffee roasters are also seeing the value of convenience! Enter the Drip Bag. Single Serve Drip Bags are big business and provide a convenient coffee option for discerning coffee drinkers - have you tried one yet? And this style of convenient coffee can be amazing!
Travel: Van Life - An Adventure in New Zealand
What happens when a coffee roaster who loves to hike decides to take a sabbatical in New Zealand, with the one he loves and Olaf, a 1992 Mitsubishi Delica 4x4? Well, many things, both coffee related and otherwise, but all of them are enlightening and entertaining.
Business: An Invitation to Proceed - The Corporate Side of Coffee
Coffee in the hospitality sector is a tough gig. Hotel coffee, for example, does not generally have a stellar reputation, but it is utterly necessary across breakfast service, in rooms, and at the customer’s beck and call. It’s easy to be a coffee snob and judge the quality of the roast, the brewing, and the service, and feel underwhelmed due to our access to such great independent cafés. But in this article we invite you to pause and consider a couple of things while we dig deep into the corporate side of coffee: consistency at scale and sheer volume.
Special Report: The Best of the Best in 2025
What do Awards mean to you? To us, they mean recognition for the hard work and supreme effort put in by incredible humans on the daily. In the South African coffee industry, we felt this kind of platform was lacking, and so eight years ago, the Coffee Magazine Awards was born.
Allow us to introduce you to the 17 Winners for 2025! We urge you to seek them out in 2026, to experience the things that make them the best in the land!
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