A Coffee Drinking Chicken and Breakfast Blueberry Gin at the Magoebaskloof Farmstall and Cafe, South Africa

Coffee Pit Stop

Life happens while you are making other plans!

While trying to escape the humid Lowveld summer heat of South Africa's Limpopo Province, we were in dire need of a good coffee. It's been several days since we've seen an espresso as we were heading up Magoebaskloof. Halfway up the pass, we passed a cafe sign and immediately decided to turn off the main road to inspect further. 

What we found proved to us, as we've discovered many, many times before, that when you travel, you should turn off the main road and prepare for the truly extraordinary discoveries. This time, we found great coffee, learned about a brewery, fed a pet goat, made cheese, and had blueberry gin for breakfast.

This is part of the TWO COWBOYS' EPIC GLOBAL TRAVEL & CULINARY EXPERIENCE - 2019! 

DO YOU WANT YOUR BUSINESS OR COMMUNITY FEATURED?

Harry and Agie are the owners of the new Magoebaskloof Farmstall and Cafe. You cannot miss the venue on the side of the picturesque Magoebaskloof pass, between Polokwane and Tzaneen. It is a farm stall stocked with local produce and a whole lot of heart and passion. You will find wine, gin, vegetables, plants, oils, soaps, pies and a little of everything the people of Magoebaskloof is proudly producing.

Yes, you are reading it right. You can buy alcohol-to-go on the side of the road in South Africa. Not only can you buy local wine, beer and gin, but Harry will also mix you a cocktail or spike your favourite latte for you, any time of the day. We were spoiled when we checked in. The Flatwhite was done correctly, and the locally baked pies were divine. However, it was the blueberry gin we had for breakfast that made our visit most memorable.

I think Harry played with Dolphins for a living and Angie, who is Canadian, were catching elephants in the Lowveld when they met. One thing led to another, and now a little Harry is running around the farmstall playing with a pet billy goat, and a big Harry is pulling espresso shots while entertaining tourists and regulars with his stories.

As they say, life happens while you were making other plans. We are glad to see the amount of passion Harry and Angie brought to their fledgeling business, and we wish them all the success they can handle. 

Observations

Turning off for a coffee at a farm stall is usually a reasonably trivial affair. We've stopped many times all over the world for coffee. It is often only about coffee. However, that morning in Magoebaskloof, something as simple as turning off the main road, a handshake, a blueberry gin and a pie later, put us on a completely different path, and a much more exciting journey.

We could have taken the safe, more comfortable option and simply continued towards the next town for a coffee at a familiar stop (which we did do several days later, only to have a disappointing coffee). Instead, our visit that morning with Harry lead us to a brewery, we discovered a fantastic camping spot by a river, we attended a local food festival, made cheese at an organic farm, ate a divine lamb pie, discovered cream cheese samoosas, and had a goat curry with mielie pap.

What it taught us again, even as seasoned travellers, is that you have to turn off the main road for your coffee. You have to say 'yes' to what is new and unfamiliar, and be prepared to experience and discover. If you do, life will gloriously happen. It will unfold around you with experiences you could never have imagined, even if you were trying to plan it.

Here is our Two Cowboys top tip about our visit to Magoebaskloof Farmstall and Cafe; "Go! Travel! Turn off the main road. Have a coffee. Introduce yourself. Say 'yes' to what happens next and enjoy the journey because life happens even if you make other plans. All you have to do is be ready to discover."

Buckle up and get ready for the ride.

Hendrik
Travelling Cowboy

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. Please book us here so we can tell your story too.

Photos

Cappuchicken!

Breakfast

On the Road

Harry!

Not One More Lousy Coffee, Please!

The End

When is a customer justified in refusing to pay for lousy coffee? It depends on how you define "bad" coffee, doesn't it? It also depends if you accept and drink it. 

We agree that the bill for a consumed coffee must be settled. However, we are firm in our opinion that a lousy coffee can, and should be sent back until it is right. Accepting a lousy coffee hurts an industry.

See more Two Cowboys Coffee Content: Here.

DO YOU WANT YOUR BUSINESS OR COMMUNITY FEATURED?

Coffee shops charge you before they serve you. Herein lies your opportunity. It gives you the chance to demand an acceptable beverage, or you get your money back. A shot of espresso can set you back as little as $1.50 and as much as $4.50. The same goes for a milk espresso drink like a cappuccino, flat-white, macchiato or latte. It too can come in as high as $3.50, and up to $6.50 at some "distinguished" establishments. If you bend over for a Starbucks, prepare to hurt even more.

We once showed a coffee shop owner that we've spent upwards of $780/month with him and that it didn't even include the beans for the coffee we make at home. The Cowboys spend more on coffee in a month than we spend on beer. That is very concerning (and a topic for another time)!

The point is that drinking coffee is expensive. Why then do we tolerate it when we are served an inferior beverage? We won't accept half a sandwich, a stale doughnut, or being served an overly salty muffin. We won't go back to a restaurant for a rubbery overdone steak and cold fries. Yet, establishments serve inferior espresso-based coffee drinks as a central feature or sideshow, and they get away with it. Even worse, some are offended when you call them out on it. 

People somehow accept the role of the espresso dice and console themselves with their fate when they are handed dark muck in a cup. "Maybe the Barista is having a bad day. Tomorrow it may be better. We'll try again later. It is the best you can get around here..." 

No more!

A (Dis)Service

It is time to call it, and we intend to do just that.

Yes, we know that we are at risk of becoming very unpopular with some of the business owners on our travels. However, as we've mentioned before, we pay for our coffee. If we are paying for it, like every other customer, we have the right to have an opinion. Even more so, because of what we do as the Two Cowboys, we have the intention to share our view with anyone that cares to read, watch and listen. 

This is a generous service to coffee lovers and the coffee serving establishment. We are gladly stepping up to provide transparency and clarity. As fellow baristas, prior coffee shop owners, dedicated coffee drinkers, and world-travellers, we intend to help coffee servers realize where they have room for improvement, and we hope to make the world a better place because of it.

This is part of the TWO COWBOYS' EPIC GLOBAL TRAVEL & CULINARY EXPERIENCE - 2019!

Good Coffee

The World Speciality Coffee Association (SCA) sets the standards for coffee. Standards can be great tools for the coffee industry as they are trusted reference instruments established by knowledgeable subject-matter experts. It is a quantifiable and qualifiable measure, based upon scientific testing, which set values and/or ranges of values for coffee.

The standards are the foundation of what is used in international barista competitions hosted by World Coffee Events at their very popular World Barista Championships. These competitions focus on promoting excellence in coffee, advancing the barista profession, and engaging worldwide audiences with a love for better coffee. Judges from around the world evaluate each performance on the taste of beverages served, cleanliness, creativity, technical skill, and overall presentation.

Now, let's be realistic. Buying a beverage at your local coffee shop should not be a world championship judging event! That is why we've lowered our standards to support our love of specialty coffees and helping fellow entrepreneurs that bravely venture to serve it to loyal patrons every day.

As far as we are concerned, there are mainly three important criteria that should be met for a Two Cowboys coffee to be an acceptable coffee (and not to be handed back for a redo). It should be well prepared, taste good, and be served in a customer friendly manner.

1. Well Prepared: There is a whole raft of technical aspects that guide a well-prepared beverage. Bean quality and freshness, grinder setting, tamping, flushing, dosing, extraction time, and other elements all work together to produce a good coffee. Chief in these for us is the cleanliness of the preparation. Secondly, is the consistency of the beverages that are turned out. Can we trust not to get sick from a septic steam wand and expect the same consistently good coffee no matter who the barista is on any given day?
2. Taste Good: First of all, the coffee should be made correctly. The barista should know the difference between a simple cappuccino, a flat-white, latte and a macchiato. If they are cross-eyed when we use words such as espresso, doppio or ristretto then they should not be on the machine. The coffee shot should have a nice dark rich crema and be well balanced between sweet, acidic and bitter. The milk should be rich and silky and the volume appropriately adjusted for the type of drink. Both should come together in balance and harmony. For heaven's sake, it should be served at the right temperature!
3. Customer Service: Here is where many coffee serving establishments go to die. The barista's treatment of his or her patrons is as integral to the specialty coffee experience as is the beverage. If every establishment makes a reasonably good coffee, then the barista's energy and positivity differentiate mediocrity from excellence. Baristas, like barmen and barbers, have a very personal job. We've walked away from good coffee in the past because of a jackass barista, and we took our $780/month with us.

We give all three of the above criteria an equal weighting. Call it the Two Cowboys - Three Stars Coffee Rating. Unfortunately, one miss can sink a coffee ship.

Observations

We realize that the specialty coffee business is a hard endeavour.

From an outsider's perspective, the margins may look promising. However, with roughly $1 of profit in a cup of coffee a shop needs to push out at least 15 an hour just to cover minimum wage in most western countries. Coffee is expensive and a good espresso machine, more so.  Baristas don't earn much either. Even if they make a good coffee, most baristas earn minimum wage, or slightly more.

Our goal is not to give these businesses and dedicated folks a hard time. Instead, by shining a light on them, we hope to celebrate their successes and drive more patrons their way. We've already lost our butchers, bakers, dairies and our fresh produce grocers from our small towns. They've been replaced by large grocery chains. Our coffee is fast going the same route with a Starbucks and a Tim Hortons opening on every available downtown corner. Every second establishment now purports to be serving specialty coffee. Most of them serve lousy coffee. That is why it is even more critical to outdo the coffee making robots.

Let's not be distracted by accepting lousy coffee. It hurts the few remaining dedicated espresso hole-in-the-walls that are doing a decent job. Support those instead, like we do!

Hendrik
Coffee Cowboy!

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. Please book us here so we can tell your story too.

Photos

Dopio!

Fiagro's Whittaker's Mocha

Koffie en Beskuit

Morning Routine

Art

Heart Attack

Cowboy Love!

Traveling Cowboys: Traveling in Style and Getting Our Espresso Fix on the Road with a Rocket R58

Good Coffee on the Road

It is incredible to realize just how bad coffee can be on the road. Some establishments give themselves out as coffee shops that should rather stay away from espresso machines.

We only feature positive stories, and we have to confess that it is difficult to find positive espresso coffee stories on our travels. 

DO YOU YOU WANT YOUR DESTINATION OR BUSINESS FEATURED?

The real gems are when we find a lost master barista operating a hole in the wall espresso stand, for a few discerning customers. We wish there were more of them in the world. They are the morning coffee heroes that should be celebrated. In their absence, we had to make our own plans.

We invested in a Rocket R58 Espresso Machine, a little Rancilio grinder and fresh beans as we travel. Now we can make our own coffee on the road when we cannot find a good local spot with a barista in the know.

Observations

The biggest challenge with espresso on the road has enough electricity to operate a higher-end espresso machine. The Rocket works with 110V power, which makes it ideal for mobile operations. It has a little water tank that we fill as we go. It is a heavy machine, so we had to be sure that we have the right spot for it. You are not going to unpack it every time you use it. It needs a special place in our rig.

We've found our coffee solution for when we can not find good coffee in the destinations of our travels. Tell us about your favourite coffee spots, and we may just pay them a visit when we pass through.

Hendrik van Wyk

Rocket Cowboy

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. Please book us here so we can tell your story too. If you want to see us do more of these, then please forward the favour. We will use it for the next episode promoting a local business or event.

Photos

Mobile Espresso

Hole in the Wall

Rocket

Setup

Good Coffee

Two Cowboys: Taking the Cake and Eating It With Coffee at 94 Take the Cake in Okotoks, Alberta

The Perfect Little Coffee Shop

If you had to detail the ideal setting for a little coffee and cake shop, what will it be? How will it look?

For me, it should remind me of my Ouma's kitchen. I had my happiest childhood days taking in the sights and smells of freshly baked bread, cake and her famous pastries. Helping her knee the dough and mixing the icing was a favorite. Sometimes, I was allowed to lick the frosting bowl if there was any left.

My Ouma was the prize-winning baker at the local County Fair with her "soetkoekies" (biscuits), "terte" (Pies) and moist Chocolate Cakes. She set the standard, and aspiring bakers worked year-on-year to try and match it. Few ever succeeded, and even less managed to exceed it.

GET YOUR DESTINATION OR BUSINESS FEATURED: Click Here

If I had to design the ideal coffee and cake shop, then it should be a place where the kitchen is the centerpiece. At 94 Take the Cake in Okotoks, Alberta, Robyn and Sherry built their ideal and perfect coffee and cake shop, and we were there for the "grand opening."

According to the ladies, they "Take the Cake" when it comes to delicious and beautiful home baking. Sherry catered before to special occasions with custom cakes and pastries. The new shop now provides her with more space, more capacity and more scope to meet the demands for her unique and beautiful cake creations. According to her, "There is no love more sincere than the love of baking."

She also shares her passion for baking through classes that are hosted at the new shop. Young and old can now learn to bake and decorate cakes with her. She believes that she can even teach the Two Cowboys to bake and decorate!

Robyn is passionate about the coffee. Her friendliness and smile are contagious as you walk in and smell the fresh roast. Fratello supplied the beans and provided some guidance to help make 94 Take The Cake's coffee a welcome companion to the baking from the kitchen. We challenged Robyn to do a Two Cowboys Flatwhite, and she had it spot-on perfect the first round with an excellent crema and smooth, creamy milk. We have our new favorite coffee spot in Okotoks.

Observations

Ultimately the setting of the little coffee shop reminds you of a fairytale. There are ample garden spots where you can enjoy the sunshine and read a favorite book amongst flowers and birdsong. The shop has several comfortable rooms where you can work, do a business meeting or share some time with a good friend. From every angle, you can see how Sherry bakes in the kitchen and Robyn makes at the front desk.

We love the coffee. The cakes are outstanding. We have no doubt that this is a winner.

What actually stands out for us is the enthusiasm of two entrepreneurs, Roby and Sherry, that are realizing their dream and allowing us to be part of it. That is why we gladly share their story and eagerly track their progress to becoming Okotoks' next favorite little cake and coffee shop.

Hendrik van Wyk

Cake Cowboy

We earn our livelihood from producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. We use Patreon to help us earn from our work. Please become a patron at http://www.travelingcowboys.com if you want to see more of this and other stories.

Photos

Opening!

Delicious

Care

Entrepreneurs

Focus

Smile

Perfect

Two Cowboys: The Beans, Roast, The Grind and the Coffee Machine with Espressotec and Rocket in Vancouver, Canada

In Order of Importance

"The espresso machine is probably the least important in the value chain of good coffee. Much more important is the quality of the bean, the roast, the grind and the skill of the barista", according to Reg James, the founder of Espressotec.

Yet, the market for coffee machines is growing in sophistication. Terms such as pressure-profiling and temperature-profiling are becoming conversation points around the local single origin espresso bar. With single origin coffee, a lot more work goes into getting the best flavors from the bean. A lot more engineering and technique goes into the machines that extract these flavors.

In this post, the Traveling Cowboys caught up with Reg James, the founder of Vancouver's biggest and most trusted coffee machine and accessory suppliers. We also had the privilege of meeting Andrew Meo, from Rocket Espresso Milano. In the coffee world, these are some of Our people.

GET YOUR DESTINATION OR BUSINESS FEATURED: Click Here

When we heard Andrew will make a stopover at Reg's place on his way to the Seattle Global Coffee Expo 2017, we couldn't contain our excitement. The motorhome is always on ready-alert for an opportunity like this. We immediately hit the road to Vancouver.

On this trip, not only did we get to visit an old friend and trusted Rancilio supplier of ours, but we also managed to meet and interview a fellow coffee countryman from New Zealand. Andrew Meo is heading one of the fastest growing and best trending brands in Coffee Machines. At Rocket Espresso Milano they make the best espresso machines they possibly can.

In a very crowded and well-established global market, Andrew and his team are breaking into the commercial sector with the same solid foundational values that launched the venture not long ago. A small team of craftsmen in Milano, Italy produce both premium domestic and commercial espresso machines that are beautifully made with meticulous care and attention to detail. Machines that should last twenty-five to thirty years.

Both of these veterans have a passion for the coffee business. They also have a passion for the quality that sets a company apart and makes products and brands legendary. Not a moment goes by without them offering valuable advice and opinion on how best to coax even more flavor and value from our love affair with the little coffee bean.

Observations

We learned a lot on this trip.

Espressotec is a one-stop-shop for the coffee gadget enthusiast. We can spend days there. There are not many places like this, where you can get hands-on with the latest from Rancilio, Rocket Espresso Milano, and La Marzocco. In the beautiful showroom that doubles as a coffee training lab and general customer hangout spot, you get to work with the machines and compare them side-by-side.

On the one hand, you can experience the legendary history of almost a century of engineering. On the contrary, you get hands-on with the rebellious new kid on the block that is pushing traditional boundaries in a pocket-sized rocket package. The Ferrari is set against the Tesla of the espresso world.

Espressotec hosts monthly events where barista and latte art enthusiasts can test their skills and learn new techniques from experts and from each other.

The most important take away from our visit is the confirmation, yet again, that the coffee grinder is the stepchild of the coffee business. The grinder, which is probably one of the simplest machines in the coffee value chain, has the single biggest role and impact on the quality of a cup of coffee. Without a good and a correctly set grind, no monster espresso machine stands a chance to extract a good cup. We own a Rancilio and a Rocket espresso machine, but we protect our grinders with a vicious guard. Reg has trained us well to appreciate the things that matter (in the coffee world).

Hendrik van Wyk

Rocket Cowboy

We earn our livelihood from producing great content about inspiring people and their stories. We use Patreon to help us earn from our work. Please support us and get VIP privileges like early access to content and special offers. Alternatively, please sponsor us: http://www.travelingcowboys.com or Donate to our cause on GoFundMe: http://www.forwardthefavour.com. It helps us to promote our local people, businesses, and events and to keep entertaining you.

Photos

Make Something

Baby Espressos

Fix it... 

New Kid

Trusted Friend

o-CNN: Love Affair With All Things Coffee at the Auckland Coffee Festival 2017, New Zealand

The Little Bean

(Learn: ** Inspire: ** Amaze: *** Live: ****)
(The Two Cowboys - Subjective Rate-o-Meter.)

New Zealanders love their coffee.

On average, Kiwis are spending $13.67 a week on coffee from coffee shops. This adds up to just over $710 a year per person. New Zealanders work themselves through a per capita annual consumption of 3.7kg of beans (Wikipedia). We are talking about a Billion Dollar industry in a relatively small country, dedicated to maximising the benefits of the little bean from the genus Coffea.

See More on Patreon: Click Here

"For as little as $1/month you will get the inside track on content like this and follow the travels of the Two Cowboys & A Camera. Join here."

A survey by consumer satisfaction company Canstar Blue showed in 2015 that Kiwis are fairly dedicated to getting the best coffee possible with 52% going out of their way for a good cup. Coffee is a staple of the Kiwi diet. Kiwi's don't drink just any coffee. This country is called Aotearoa ("Land of the Long White Cloud"), but it might as well be called the "Country of the Strong Flat White" considering the sophistication and dedication that goes into every cup.

There is an espresso machine in every corner store, and most of these locations actually know how to use them. Legend has it that the early coffee roasters in New Zealand struggled with adoption and sponsored espresso machines for businesses as an incentive to stock and serve their beans. It fostered coffee adoption, and Kiwi's became as sophisticated and discerning about their coffee as any Italian. Caffeine is a drug after all, best served up strong.

The Auckland Coffee Festival, which is in its second year, is another opportunity for expressing the Kiwi love affair with coffee. According to Luke Jackison, the organiser, it is all about celebrating the "latte" lifestyle. It is also about showcasing talent, creativity and new ideas of what can be done with coffee within the Auckland coffee market.

Observations

We received an invitation from Luke and our good friends, Miles and Sandra from Weta Coffee, to attend and cover the festival. If you follow our journey, you will know that we cannot pass up any invitation to a food and beverage related festival, showcase or expose.

What we found was different from what we've seen elsewhere. Luke and his team of exhibitors indeed succeeded in engaging the audience with great products and coffee. They also impressed attendees with engaging coffee experiences. La Marzocco gave barista lessons on their new premium prosumer machines. There was coffee stout, jelly shots, espresso gelato, and affogato. You could scrub with coffee, bath with coffee, drink coffee, smell the coffee, grind coffee, pour coffee, press coffee, roast coffee, have your hair cut with coffee, or simply do it cold with nitrogen.

What truly stood out for us was the number of smaller operators that we found at the festival. The smaller roaster, bakery, cold brewer and even the creme brulee maker that served it from his trike.

Hipsterism dictates authenticity, value, independent thinking, counter-culture, an appreciation of art, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. Men in beards and flannel were everywhere, but it didn't detract from the sheer quality of the products that was on offer, and the obvious fun people were having at every stall. The Auckland Coffee Festival comes highly recommended as a truly authentic experience. It is not only for hipsters. It is something not to be missed for anyone that shares in the love affair with all things coffee.

Set a reminder for late summer 2018.

Hendrik van Wyk
Flat White Cowboy

We are a content company. We earn our livelihood from producing great content about inspiring people and their stories. We use Patreon to help us earn from our work. It allows us to have a closer relationship with our collaborators and grow our audience. 

If you Sponsor us on Patreon: http://www.travelingcowboys.com or Donate to our cause on GoFundMe: http://www.forwardthefavour.com we can do a lot more for you, your business, event or community.

Photos

Gold Leaf Coffee Jelly Shots 

Creme Brulee

Weta Coffee

La Marzocco

Two Cowboys: Remembering Mum's Kitchen at Home Ground Coffee and Roasting House with Rebel Bean Coffee, Okotoks, Alberta, Canada

Cinnamon and Coffee

(Learn: * Inspire: ** Amaze: * Live: ****)
(The Two Cowboys Subjective Rate-o-Meter.   )

There are two distinct smells that I remember from my childhood in my Mum's kitchen. Cinnamon and coffee. Cinnamon made it into the hot, soft, sticky, cream cheese frosted rolls. Freshly brewed coffee was right beside it. The first thing of focus in the morning.

Get More on Patreon: Click Here

"For as little as $1/month you will get the inside track on content like this and follow the travels of the Two Cowboys & A Camera. Join here."

Thanks to Wikipedia we know that a cinnamon roll is a sweet roll served commonly in Northern Europe and North America. In North America, its common use is for breakfast or dessert. Its main ingredients are flour, cinnamon, sugar, and butter, which provide a robust and sweet flavour.

In some places, it is eaten as a breakfast food and is often served with cream cheese or icing. History tells us that Sweden is to thank for the creation of this delectable treat. Swedish dough typically also contains cardamom (powder or buds), giving it a distinctive flavour. Canada takes a lot of pride in its versions of the cinnamon bun, possibly because of its Nordic heritage. No matter where you are in Canada, you are guaranteed to find some variety. Whichever variety you do get, the best way to eat them is as fresh as can be. Preferably, right out of the oven.

If you are in Okotoks, Alberta, and you can make your way down Elizabeth Street (old Main Street) towards North Railway Street, you will find a very, very small establishment on your left named Home Ground Coffee and Roasting House. Here they make several batches of buns by hand every day to ensure that customers get their cinnamon buns as fresh as possible.

Home Ground is a tiny kitchen that just so happens to also have a few chairs for patrons. It is probably the closest you will get to mum's kitchen stocked with buns, soups, and other pastries to get you through your day. People come for the buns. They also come for the great coffee. If the building is not small enough for a kitchen and a few chairs, they've managed to squeeze in a single origin coffee roaster by the name of Rebel Bean Coffee.

Observations

Home Ground is a busy place. Heather van Aalst, the owner and her team of helpers, are jumping to get the food out for the day's patrons. Mornings are the busiest as people step in for their Rebel Bean coffee fix and a cinnamon bun. It is the kind of place where they know your name. No drive-through here. The coffee is real, so is the food and the people.

One person in the kitchen is dedicated to only making the famous cinnamon buns. As soon as the first batch leaves the door, the second batch goes into the oven. At around 10:00 when it is tea-time, they are already on batch number eight! The day continues.

Late morning Kerri Ann Colby, the rebel from Rebel Bean Coffee fires up the roaster and the aroma's of freshly roasted coffee lingers down Main Street Okotoks. It is a magnet for downtown folk.

At lunch, you can have freshly baked bread and soup. Everything is home-made right in front of you in the tiny kitchen. After work, you can step in for your wine and beer. Yes, you heard it right. This is a kitchen that goes the extra mile. Breakfast, brunch, lunch and sundowner.

We wanted to know from Kerri Ann, why she named her roastery "Rebel Bean"? In every batch, she explained, there is one single bean that inexplicably doesn’t roast. That bean is among the thousands in each batch that is exposed heat of more than 200°C. Every other lost a good deal of its moisture, lost a percentage of its natural caffeine, and its sugars have caramelised to darken its colour. Except for one. This one bean seemingly flips the bird at chemistry and does not roast. She found one in every batch and termed it, the Rebel Bean. There is a little jar of rebel beans on the shelf in the room where she roasts at Home Ground. The name stuck. It became the personality for the brand and its customers.

Home Ground and Rebel Bean both have tonnes of personality. It is a combination that works. It has energy. Busyness. It is the kind of place you look for in every town. The place where they know your name, and you get a great coffee with an awesome cinnamon bun, that was roasted and baked by the people of the town that morning.

The Two Cowboys & A Camera never drives past Home Ground. It is our people. Please join us in supporting our locals.

Hendrik van Wyk
Rebel Cowboy

Get rewarded for supporting our local Producers: Receive special offers and invitations from the Two Cowboys and our Producers when you subscribe to our email list.

We are a content company. We earn our livelihood from producing great content about inspiring people and their stories. We use Patreon to help us earn from our work. It allows us to have a closer relationship with our collaborators and grow our audience. If you Sponsor us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/twocowboys or Donate to our cause on GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/twocowboys we can do a lot more for you, your business, event or community.

Photos

Yes We Do

Busy, Busy

Okotoks' Coffee

Rebel Beans 

Hmmmm, Aaaaahh

o-CNN: Weta Coffee - Your Local Roaster in One Tree Hill, Auckland New Zealand

The First and the Last

(Learn: * Inspire: *** Amaze: ** Live: *****)
(The Two Cowboys Subjective Rate-o-Meter.   )

There should be two important and largely invisible people in every person's life. Ones with the power to make a person's day. They are people not usually noticed, but who are integrally part of our daily routines. Thanks to them, life can tick over with a familiar and predictable rhythm. Without them, it becomes just a little bit harder. If they play their parts perfectly, you don't notice them. If they mess up, everything is affected.

"For as little as $1/month you will get the inside track on content like this and follow the travels of the Two Cowboys & A Camera. Join here."

Even when things don't always go to plan, these people provide you with a foundational stability and familiar comforts. Something reliable. They help to prepare you to face the next big challenge life may throw at you.

No, I am not talking about the people stocking your toilet paper. I am referring to the two unsung hero's of our society: The Barman, and the Barista. The one puts you to bed at night, and the other wakes you in the morning. The one pours you your favourite drink after a hard days work. The other, sets you up for greatness in the morning, with your first kick of caffeine for the day.

It is important that you choose these people carefully for a harmonious and meaningful life. Ask anyone that is married just how critical this choice is. Yes, it can be your spouse or partner. My preference is professionals for these paramount tasks.

The Professionals

This is what we encountered when we were graciously nudged on Facebook to pay Weta Coffee a visit in one of Auckland, New Zealand's more established neighbourhoods: One Tree Hill (also referred to as "None" Tree Hill - there is a story there for another time). Miles and Sandra at Weta are professionals. They know what to do to start One Tree Hill's folks off on a good day, every day of the week. 

Every corner store in New Zealand boasts an espresso machine. It is the land of milk and honey (and good coffee, generally). The bar is significantly higher in this part of the world if you want to stand out as a "hole in the wall" neighbourhood coffee spot. There are a lot of good coffee places.

Weta Coffee graduates with flying colours by roasting and blending their beans to the taste preferences of their loyal, discerning, and by now, very devoted clientele. When you drink Weta Coffee, you get One Tree Hill's coffee. A little on the stronger side, a bit more acidity, rich, with a lingering chocolate note as Miles Masters (Roaster and Co-Owner) prefers it. Above all, it is fresh because they roast and blend it themselves every Sunday afternoon. 

How do you judge the quality of a coffee shop? 

For the Two Cowboys, the coffee shop must occupy the vital place of being the (morning) heart of the community. Like your local brewery or bar, the coffee shop is the place where the people of the area come together to meet the neighbours, talk about the weather, kids and politics (if you have to), and to relax.

It is encouraging to see Myles and Sandra make a move from corporate to craft. Even more encouraging to find them producing a premium quality coffee in a small corner of One Tree Hill. A trip to Weta is worth the effort. We promise. 

If you want the taste of One Tree Hill but cannot get there yourself, you can order it online for shipping in and around New Zealand: http://wetacoffee.co.nz/. If you want to see them roast, see them. It happens on Sunday afternoons.

Hendrik van Wyk

Weta Coffee Fan

Get rewarded for supporting our local Producers:

Receive special offers and invitations from the Two Cowboys and our Producers when you subscribe to our email list.

Who we are: We are a social enterprise. We are funded through donations and sponsorship. 
All our earnings are applied back to covering our costs of marketing and promoting Producers and inspiring local communities. Please support us to bring you more (www.forwardthefavour.com)

Photos

The Bug

The Beast

On Tap 

On the Road

For the Community