The first thing that hit me when I visited the Rosetta Roastry was the commitment to purity, artisanal practices and simple, good quality coffee.
Jono and Rob, the minds behind the single-origin-roasted-with-love cup of coffee are young, knowledge, coffee-steeped souls that seem to have an intrinsic understanding of the value that comes from respecting the old world whilst not turning ones back on new-fangled techniques. Their deep and sincere affection for the humble coffee bean has allowed them to pass on and educate South Africans about the wiles of high quality, single origin coffee.
Now the idea behind single origin is that each growing region has got unique flavour components. Much like wine from various cultivars and climates, the beans also possess these subtle qualities. The difference lays in that this technique, that gives homage to the plant and growers, isn’t found in most commercial production lines who blend according to meet economies of the scale.
Jono and Rob took me through a coffee tasting from three rather distinct coffee regions: Columbia, Indonesia and Ethiopia. Much like a wine tasting, the way to truly understand the full breadth of the regions as well as the different textures, weight on the tongue and aromatics, is to taste them sequentially. Jono described this tasting process as creating the internal “files” in which to classify the flavour. The first time I smelled Pete in whiskey, white peaches in viognier or green grass cuttings in Sauvignon Blanc was as invigorating as identifying the floral notes in the Ethiopian or the full-bodied, “mouth feel” of the Columbian. There is even a rather unattractive slurping technique that went along with the tasting, which made the experience feel all the more authentic.
Their end goal is to create a coffee brand for connoisseurs, for those people that aren’t simply looking for that morning kick but want to savour and learn about an art that finds itself a tad diluted in our immediately gratifying times. The coffee I tasted at Rosetta was FAR superior to 90% of the sludge I’ve had in my lifetime. So much so, that I think they’ve even convinced me to be a tad more pshmickty about where I buy my coffee from AND have warded me off stirring in my single sachet of brown sweetness.
Rosetta Roasry can be found in the urban-chic district of Woodstock and Rob and Jono are always keen to have people ‘round for a tasting.
Unit F106 Woodstock Industrial Centre
66 Albert Road
Woodstock
(021) 447 4099
info@rosettaroastry.com
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