I love good coffee. And what better way to make a cup of coffee better than to combine it with a good deed.
Meet Vintage Coffee, a new coffee shop that recently opened its doors in Centurion.
The concept is unique, certainly not something I have ever heard about.
The idea was the brain child of Kevin and Rebeca. Kevin is a South African who fell in love with coffee in Brazil and lived in the US for a period of time. They wanted to bring their coffee dream to South Africa, but also wanted to give something back to the community, and who said the two ideas have to be mutually exclusive??
Vintage Coffee counter
The idea is a simple and brilliant one. They serve great coffees, enlisting the help of volunteers. With each cup of coffee, patrons are given a token, which they then use to vote for the charity of their choice. At the end of the month, the tokens are tallied up and the one with the most votes get a portion of the profits for the month. Genius!
Coffee and a croissant, served with a token
I read about this new coffee shop which opened literally around the corner from my office. On Saturday morning, I took my mom and youngest daughter to go and give them a try. Tucked away in an office park close to the Old Johannesburg offramp in Centurion, we were pleasantly surprised by the ambiance of Vintage Coffee.
The decor is modern and minimalistic and the smell of coffee greets you as you walk in. The focus is coffee, but they do serve fresh croissants, gluten-free brownies and cupcakes/muffins. We ordered our coffees and a snack and were given an old 2c piece for each item we bought.
Great ambiance!
Gluten-free chocolate brownies..
Initially we stuck with the croissants, but we had to go back for the chocolate brownie, which was absolutely delicious.
And the coffee… Apart from the normal espresso, cappuccino and latte, they also serve an americano, a pour over and cold brew. The last one is made in a cold press that has a proud place on the counter and I found this fascinating. Not for your quick morning coffee, as it takes more than 2 hours to brew a single cup of coffee, but they promise that it is a summer delight. Apparently the coffee has a sweeter and smoother flavour. I will definitely go back and give it a try!
The cold coffee press…
The voting station has more details about the charities of the month, with contact details etc. The 3 charities for September were
- Re-connect:- A company with the main aim of caring for abandoned, abused, neglected and orphaned children.
- Jumping kids:- An organisation that facilitate access to advanced prosthetic solutions to those who need it most, children living with lower limb amputations from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- The Rare disease Society of SA:- An organisation which aims to assist all rare disease patient to get access to appropriate care and support.
Voting station
In the end, we shared our votes across the charities. And even if there are only one ‘winner’ at the end of the month, they have certainly created awareness of these charities via the initiative and I will certainly look out for them in future.
We left with happy hearts, knowing that our little small contribution will make the difference in someone’s life.
I will definitely be back, and I also confirmed that they sell take away coffees, so the perfect place to pop in for a coffee en route between meetings! Unfortunately, they only open at 8:30, otherwise I might have been tempted to place a standing order for collection in the mornings!
Do try and support this worthwhile cause. You won’t be disappointed. And look them up on Facebook. They do events from time to time like breakfasts and in September they did a coffee and chocolate tasting. I can only just imagine!! And for tea drinkers, they have a fairly decent list of teas that they serve as well.
Make your next cup of coffee count!!
justcallmegertie 