INGRID SHEVLIN
As many of you know, the Great Cappuccino Hunt, first published in the Sunday Tribune, is the inspiration behind The Battle of the Beans – and it all started over a casual conversation at the KZNSA Gallery.
Back in 1999, Ralph Bronzin and I were talking about coffee over coffee at the Arts Café in Glenwood. We talked about just how bad it was – meaning that most coffee shops did a pretty poor job making it and how few coffee drinkers understood the function of a barista – and how even fewer knew the difference between a real deal espresso and instant coffee!
Back then Ralph was proprietor of The Arts Cafe, which was – and still is – part of the KZNSA Gallery in Glenwood. So, he knew what he was talking about. When it came to cappuccinos and what constituted a good one, words failed him.
You should run a cappuccino competition, he suggested, to educate the public and raise standards in coffee shops. And, so, the Great Cappuccino Hunt was born. It ran in the Sunday Tribune for 17 years, was hugely popular and did exactly what it set out to do.
Twenty-five years later, it’s a brave new world – or not so brave. Covid ravaged our planet, social media has largely taken over the print media and coffee shops have become more important than ever in providing safe spaces for those forced to work out of the office and for people needing social interaction.
Today, though, the need for authentic coffee is stronger than ever. So, what better time to revive the competition and play it out on social media?
Ralph, who now lives abroad and works in a French Bakery where he has, on occasion, churned out 300 cups of coffee in one day, had a lot to say about the revival of the competition.
He remembers a woman protesting about her cappuccino simply because it arrived at her table without the expected whipped cream with sprinkles. That was the moment The Arts Cafe Great Cappuccino Hunt was born, out of frustration at explaining what a coffee was and wasn’t, and to bring the Durban coffee drinking culture into the future.
He admits that, back in the year 1999, coffee drinkers and coffee shop owners were mostly uninformed, with a few great exceptions. The number one hot beverage was filter coffee – fresh, not fresh, no one cared. He knew an operator who stored her unsold filter coffee at day-end and reheated it in the morning. True story.
Cappuccinos were sophisticated, foreign and unknown; they came out of intimidating Italian machines of steam and polished steel, and all we knew was espresso. When you ordered a cappuccino, you took what was offered because you didn’t know any better. You were often given a choice of cream or “froth”. We didn’t yet know about steamed micro textured milk (and anyway it hadn’t yet been invented) – and the froth was piled high like an ice cream scoop and topped with a sprinkle of cocoa, cinnamon, or chocolate powder. The cream was sprayed on top like on a scone. The beverage was often espresso based but could equally have been filter coffee topped with steamed milk. In short, we were all mostly clueless about coffee, customers and restaurateurs alike.
The competition changed all that and was Durban’s contribution to South Africa’s coffee revolution. We achieved exactly what we set out to do: educate the coffee drinking public on what makes a great cup of coffee. Customers became aware of what to expect from a cappuccino, responding with enthusiasm and passion.
In turn, coffee shop owners responded by training their baristas, improving their knowledge, and cleaning equipment regularly.
Now, coffee has become such a large part of our daily structure that it can often be taken for granted. Competitions such as this focus the mind, refine baristas’ craft and improve the in-cup quality. Ralph says that he is thrilled that the Battle of the Beans has picked up the mantle. Everyone’s a winner!
