Origin Coffee Roasting: The Institution That Trained Half of SA Specialty

If you write about South African specialty coffee for long enough, you eventually write about Origin. That's not a compliment so much as a fact of the genre.

## The Origin Story (Literally)

A Montrealer named Joel Singer arrived in South Africa in 1997. Had his first good cup of coffee at David Donde's Greyton hotel in 2003. Planned to open an artisan bakery. The bakery project got derailed, but the people he was speaking to wanted him to roast coffee for them. Origin began — by complete accident — in late 2005.

The accidental nature of it is part of why the place feels like it's still figuring things out 19 years later. That's the energy of a business that wasn't built on a business plan but on a genuine, slightly chaotic love of the product.

## The People — A Hall of Fame

| Person | Role | Distinction |
|--------|------|-------------|
| Joel Singer | Founder & GM | Montrealer-turned-Capetonian |
| Willem Pienaar | First barista | SA's first Barista Champion |
| Jorge Alberto | Product Quality Mgr | Joined 5 Jan 2007, barista to QC |
| Jose Vilande | Barista trainer | 2nd SA Barista Champion |
| Wayne Oberholzer | Barista | Past SA Champion |
| Lovejoy Chirambasukwa | Barista | Past Champion Barista |
| Mike MacDonald | Head Roaster (10+ yrs) | Hosts Origin Coffee Knowledge Sunday Brews |

Five SA Barista Champions trained under the same roof. There are SCASA national finals that have been more or less an Origin-alumni reunion.

The Origin Barista Academy trained 3,500 baristas before handing the baton to the African School of Coffee. That's a remarkable institutional handoff.

## The 2023 Merger — Origin + Truth + Tribe

"We realised that we are all one Tribe."

The wholesale sides of Origin (2005), Truth (2009), and Tribe (2010) merged. The cafés continue independently. What changed is the green-buying and wholesale infrastructure — three of SA specialty's most influential roasters now share supply-chain depth and variety.

## The Origin Alumni Network

The network runs through half the Coffee Journal archive:

- Cedar Coffee: Winston Thomas — barista at Origin 2014, now co-founder of Cedar
- Tribe Coffee: Jake Easton — Origin consultant 2009, founded Tribe 2010
- YAAWK Coffee: Self-taught generation, Origin-adjacent

## The Coffee — Lalesa Black Honey

From Gedeb, Ethiopia. 2150 masl. Heirloom. Black Honey processed. 900 smallholder farmers at the Lalesa washing station, run by Ephtah.

Notes: guava, dark chocolate, pineapple, jasmine tea. R430/250g.

The cross-roaster Lalesa thread — Humble (Lalisa Natural), Brüder (Lalisa Black Honey), and Origin (Lalesa Black Honey) all source from the same Ethiopian washing station.

## Where to Find Them

28 Hudson Street, De Waterkant, Cape Town
Phone: +27 21 421 1000
Online at originroasting.co.za
Instagram: @origincoffeesa