Gourmet coffee roasting is a passion in Cape Town and the city’s lively coffee culture means a quality flat white is never far away. Here are some of the best places to get your gourmet caffeine fix in the mother city.

Origin Roasting is one of the most influential players in Cape Town’s coffee scene. Not only does the Origin store, in the De Waterkant area, serve a range of superior single-origin coffees, their coffee is also available at a number of good coffee shops and cafes throughout the city.

Origin sources coffee from around the world and the expert staff will provide you with a detailed flavour profile to help you find a coffee that matches your palette and your mood. Of course, the best way to find that perfect coffee is to keep drinking until you find the perfect taste.

Origin also serves food, and their smoked salmon bagels make a perfect breakfast or brunch accompaniment to a strong espresso or a casual cappuccino.

Espresso Lab Microroasters is located at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock. Their focus is on sourcing great coffee and preparing it in the optimum way, using highly sophisticated equipment. With an emphasis on freshness and perfect roasting, you are assured of getting the most out your coffee. If you happen to be at the trendy Neighbourgoods Market, it’s definitely worth stopping into Espresso Lab for a fortifying coffee or two.

Those who spend time in the city centre swear by Deluxe Coffeeworks. The guys at Deluxe are completely serious about making great coffee – but never boring.  Start your day with a Fast Eddie’s Espresso (the house blend) or sip on a Dirty Hippie (an organic blend, incorporating a choice mix of African and South American coffees).

No survey of Cape Town’s coffee culture would be complete without mentioning Cape Town’s everyday favourite, Vida e Caffé. With a hip Vida store in most neighbourhoods across Cape Town, Vida is a perfect spot to grab a coffee and a muffin on the go, or look busy on your MacBook while sipping a couple of lattes. Vida also serves iced coffees, freshly squeezed orange juice and other goodies.

With so much to do in Cape Town, it’s just as well that there are plenty of places to get a quick coffee fix. After a busy day, guests of the Taj Cape Town will be delighted to discover the array of exquisite cuisine provided by the hotel’s two restaurants, as well as the Twankey Champagne and Oyster Bar.

The Taj Cape Town is a luxury hotel providing accommodation in Cape Town. Housed in a beautifully restored historical building, the Taj Cape Town offers fine dining in the heart of the city.

Image courtesy of Makoya Makaraba (http://www.makaraba.co.za)

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These traditional fan helmets, known as Makaraba, are used to show support and they reflect one of the most vibrant and positive aspects of South African soccer culture – the absolute support, love and loyalty bestowed on a football team by its adoring fans.

If you’d like to join in the fun by donning a Makaraba, during the 2010 World Cup, you will find them at the following places:

1. Order your customised Makaraba online through Makoya Makaraba. The design of these can be specified by the client which means that yours will be completely unique!
2. Find a Makaraba at one of the stalls situated outside the stadium.
3. Support local initiatives by purchasing a Makaraba from a street vendor.
4. Purchase a Makaraba from any shop that stocks fan memorabilia.

The annual Cape Times V&A Waterfront Wine Affair is taking place from 4 to 7 May 2010. A state-of-the-art marquee on the roof of the Breakwater parking garage serves as the venue for this well loved food and wine festival. The Cape’s top wine estates, producers and boutique wineries will showcase their wines, alongside carefully matched gourmet exhibitors and award-winning Waterfront restaurants, offering delicious accompaniments.

Wine bottles (image from Stock.Xchng – http://www.sxc.hu)

Visitors can choose from a selection of 300 wines from 75 of the Cape’s finest wineries, as well as an appetising assortment of deli and restaurant fare. Weave through the stands to sample wine-pairing favourites including olives, cheeses, charcuterie, pestos, oysters and sushi. Those with a sweet tooth can enjoy a variety of chocolates, nougat and preserves on offer.

Ticket details

• Purchase tickets at Computicket from 1 April 2010
• Early bird tickets are on sale until 25 April 2010 and cost R75.00
• Tickets to attend the event on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are priced at R90.00 per person.
• Friday attendance is charged at R110.00 per person
• The event runs from 10am to 9pm daily

Your ticket will include wine and deli tastings and a brochure. Wine can be purchased at the event for post-festival delivery and specialised food items will be on sale. Taste the Cape’s finest wines and a tailored gourmet menu at the water’s edge, amid views of Table Mountain and the Cape Town Stadium.

As in previous years, a portion of the proceeds will go to The Pebbles Project, a charity offering educational support to children with special needs in the Cape Winelands.

A number of people who attended the Taj Cape Town open days wrote fantastic things about their experience. What was really exciting for us is that both journalists and general members of the South African public were responsible for generating this amazing online publicity.

The Taj Cape Town - view from the old Temple Chambers entrance.

Links to a few of the pieces written about the Taj Cape Town open days:

• GoTravel 24
• Marie Claire Blog
• Aslam Levy
• SLXS

If you come across other pieces that you think should be added to this thread please link to them in the comments section.

Three months ago this is what the old reserve bank foyer looked like:

One month ago this is what the old reserve bank foyer looked like:

In our first post of the New Year we’ll share what it looks like now.

This statue is wrongly assumed – by many of those who know of its existence – to to be Britannia, a relic from the Cape’s days as a British colony. It is in fact a piece from a later period, a symbol of the humanity of the Board of Executors.

It was commissioned by the architect George Murray Alexander in 1894 and was supposed to illustrate a shepherdess, holding in her right hand the crook – her left hand resting on the anchor – while approaching her a cupid is submitting a book (or volume) containing facts on which information or guidance is required; and another cupid (of client) who has one hand on the Scales of Justice and in the other a wreath. All very whimsical!

This whimsical statue didn’t sit well with the townsfolk and neither did its cost of 94 Pounds. Which, in those days, was a substantial sum of money!

For these reasons the statue – a large, draped female – came to be known as The Widow Twankey who is a famous pantomime (play) dame. The Widow Twankey is – in the world of pantomimes – always a figure of fun as was the statue in the eyes of the townsfolk.

George Murray Alexander – the architect – was wholly blamed for this disgrace and to this day the sculptor and model remain anonymous.

The Bombay Brasserie Indian specialty restaurant is unlike anything presently on offer in Cape Town. The Bombay Brasserie’s dishes are not all about heat or sauce; instead they’re a delicate melody of flavours, a real taste of modern Indian fare.

Mint, the Taj Cape Town’s relaxed all-day dining restaurant, will showcase innovative international and local cuisine. Its main features – apart from the consistently tempting menu – are the open-plan kitchen (making it possible for diners to sneak-a-peak at their meals being prepared) and the floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors opening onto St Georges Mall. These doors, when open, create a seamless indoor-outdoor dining experience.

The final dining experience on offer – at the Taj Cape Town – is the Twankey Seafood, Champagne and Oyster Bar situated on the corner of Wale Street and Adderley Street. Here flowing champagne, fresh seafood, elegant décor, wrap-around glass windows and background jazz tell a glamorous story. Twankey guests can spend an hour, an afternoon or a whole day sipping on something delicious, snacking on delectable seafood tapas and watching the Adderley Street bustle pass them by.

Behind the scenes at Mint. In the background you can see the floor-to-ceiling glass façade that opens onto St Georges Mall.

In each room – thanks to the incorporation of the various historical elements – you can picture the country influencing conversations that must have taken place over a Friday afternoon drink.

Original large window and wood-panelling in a Taj Cape Town Boardroom

This unique incorporation of history into a modern offering has ensured that each meeting room is filled with a feeling of inspiration. They are the perfect places to make great decisions!

We plan on sharing the interesting Cape Town historical facts we unearth – or we have shared with us – with you.

Let’s start with the very relevant and very busy Adderley Street and how it got its name.

Adderley Street was originally called Heerengracht. But, in 1850, in honour of Charles B Adderley, it was named Adderley Street.

This street name was bestowed as thanks to Charles B Adderley for halting plans to turn the Cape into another convict colony.

The story goes that Adderley – at the behest of the colonialists who’d settled in the fairest Cape – refused to allow a ship to dock and unload its convict cargo. The ship – being unable to dock in port – was forced to sail on.

These columns have a long history and were, originally, a sense of great and continued frustration for James Morris (the Reserve Bank architect).

Morris was a phenomenal architect and he was exceptionally pedantic about both the interior and exterior appearance of his buildings.

For the Reserve Bank columns he sourced, all the way from Sweden, a mottled green and cream Cippolino (a type of marble). When the pillars arrived, and they were unpacked, Morris was convinced that he’d been had; that a cheaper marble had been sold to him at an inflated price.

A court case proved Morris’s suspicions right but it also shed some light on the exorbitant amount Morris had spent on these columns. The taxpayers were outraged and they insisted that the government curb their reckless spending! Due to this pressure, from the taxpayers, the green and cream Cippolino columns were scrapped and replaced with, the more cost effective, cream and brown Portuguese Styros columns.

These Portuguese Styros are the columns presently hiding behind the protective casings in the Taj Cape Town foyer.

This is because we, as a hotel group, specialise in creating, enhancing and caring for landmark properties around the world. Basically we restore landmarks, working with existing architecture and heirlooms to create individual masterpieces.

In any of the Taj properties you visit, throughout the world, you’ll find rich elements from the building’s past tastefully coupled with every modern fitting.

It is, in some ways, like visiting a living breathing history lesson. A wonderful looking glass into the past.

The Taj Cape Town building; a picture from the past.