Our Story
Coffee is just
the excuse.
Look at our logo for a second. It is not a cup. It is two of them, held up by two different people, meeting in the middle. That was the whole idea before we had a name, a machine, or a single bean.
Proper Coffee is a coffee bar at JoshGen in Bloemfontein. We wanted the coffee to be genuinely good — properly weighed, properly pulled, no apologies — because doing it well is a form of respect for whoever is drinking it.
But the coffee is the excuse. What we are actually after is the ten minutes either side of it: the conversation at the counter, the person who came in alone and left with someone to sit with, the regular whose order we learn by heart.
Sit down a stranger,
get up a friend.
What we care about
Three things, and they only work in this order.
The Cup
Get the coffee right first. Everything else is decoration if what is in the cup does not hold up.
The Counter
Know the name, remember the order, ask the follow-up question. Being recognised is half of why anyone comes back.
The Table
Room to stay. The best thing that can happen here is that two people who did not know each other end up sharing one.