IMAGES: shirley williams
There is something particularly pleasurable about drinking coffee in spring. Perhaps it is the warmth of the cup between your hands while the air begins to soften. Perhaps it is the first hint of jasmine on the breeze, the cheerful return of birdsong, or simply the delicious feeling that winter has finally packed its bags.
In KZN, spring has its own particular flavour.
Here, spring may not necessarily arrive with a dramatic wardrobe change from coats to sandals. Durban simply turns up the heat, adds a little humidity, while the Midlands throws in a few spectacular blossoms and the bulbs break out from the soil. The soil wakes up. We wake up – and, naturally, the coffee machine gets busy.
That is because few things say good morning, spring quite like a freshly brewed cup enjoyed outdoors.
A SPRING CUP OF HAPPINESS
Coffee has a remarkable ability to make an ordinary moment feel like an occasion. A quiet cup on the patio. A takeaway enjoyed beneath a shady tree – and spring is an especially good season for lingering.
There is less urgency to rush indoors and escape the cold, and not quite enough heat yet to make sitting still feel like an extreme sport. It is the sweet spot: coffee weather, gardening weather and let’s just have another cup weather.
Which brings us neatly to one of KZN’s great seasonal pleasures: nursery coffee.
Yes, you read that correctly. Plants and coffee. Soil and cappuccino. Succulents and flat whites.
The Battle of the Bean suggests that you simply take your coffee where the plants are. Many of the province’s nurseries have coffee shops or cafés tucked among the plants, creating the perfect setting for a spring outing. Why shouldn’t choosing your next hibiscus, herb or hanging basket come with a decent cup of coffee?
There is something wonderfully civilised about wandering through rows of lush greenery with a coffee in hand, stopping to admire a flowering plant, taking another sip, and deciding that, actually, your garden definitely needs one more pot.
This is not merely shopping. It is horticultural inspiration with caffeine.
Better still, it is an activity made for sharing. Meet a friend at your favourite nursery. Order two coffees. Walk slowly. Discuss which plants would survive your particular combination of enthusiasm, forgetfulness and Durban sunshine. Share a slice of cake if the conversation becomes particularly demanding.
SHARING THE GOOD STUFF
Your coffee can come back to the garden. Once you’ve enjoyed your coffee, don’t automatically throw those grounds into the rubbish bin. Used coffee grounds can be useful in the garden — provided they are used sensibly.
Coffee grounds contain organic matter and small amounts of nutrients, including nitrogen, and when incorporated into compost they can contribute to the decomposition process and help create a richer growing medium. They also improve soil structure as organic material breaks down. Some KZN coffee shops even package their coffee grounds for their coffee loving customers to take home and share with their flowers.
But here is where we need to separate garden wisdom from coffee folklore.
Coffee grounds are not a magic fertiliser. Simply tipping a thick layer around every plant is not necessarily doing it any favours or give it the same boost that your cappuccino gave you. Fresh, unused coffee grounds are relatively acidic, while used grounds are much closer to neutral, so they should not be treated as a way of dramatically changing your soil’s pH.
The best approach is to add used coffee grounds to your compost. Mix them with other compost ingredients — leaves, garden trimmings, vegetable scraps and other organic material — rather than creating a dense coffee-ground blanket around your plants. A little goes a long way.
You can also mix modest amounts of used grounds into garden soil or use them as part of an organic mulch, but avoid piling them thickly around stems. Their fine texture can compact, potentially restricting water and air movement.
In other words: give your plants a coffee date, not a caffeine overdose.
GROUNDS FOR CELEBRATION
At BoB, we’ve found that there is something satisfying about this little spring ritual.
You drink the coffee.
You visit the nursery.
You choose the plants.
You take them home.
And then the coffee grounds get a second life in the garden.
It is almost poetic — although perhaps that is the caffeine talking.
Either way, spring in KZN invites us to slow down just enough to notice what is growing around us, to sit outside, to meet friends, to choose something beautiful for the garden.
No matter where you find yourself in this beautiful province, whether at home or visiting one of our lovely holiday destinations, remember that there are few things better than a garden in bloom, a coffee in hand and nowhere particularly urgent to be.
Unless, of course, the nursery closes. Then it is time to make a decision. Coffee first, or plants? Fortunately, there is usually a café nearby – check out our Guide on this website to find out where to put down some more coffee roots this spring.
