1st
Xander VenterSA National Barista Championship
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/22/7177 — represents SA at WBC Panama Oct 2026
I am not a judge, a competitor or anyone with a vote. I am a South African who got obsessive about coffee and started writing it all down. What kept happening as I built this directory was that the same handful of names came up in conversation as the serious ones — and when I went looking for a single place that said who had actually won what, there wasn't one. Coffee Magazine has the results scattered across years of blog posts, the world championship placings sit in results archives nobody reads, and the roasteries themselves are the least reliable source of all.
So this is that list. Two different things sit on this page and it matters that you know the difference. The SCASA national championships are judged skills competitions with an actual podium — barista, cup tasters, latte art — and the national winner goes to the world championship. The Coffee Magazine Awards are industry awards for roasteries and cafes: Roastery of the Year, packaging, cafe design. A wall full of CMAs tells you a business is well run and well liked. A national barista title tells you one person, on one day, was the best in the country.
Where I could tie a result to a roastery in our directory, the business name links through. Where the source carried a caveat, I have left the caveat in rather than cleaning it up.
SCASA & world championship podiums
National podiums and the world championship placings that followed them. Where a competitor was independent or competing for a business we don't list, the name still appears — it just isn't a link.
2026
3 results1st
3rd
2025
5 results1st
Stevo KühnSA National Barista Championship
Independent / Plato Coffee
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/22/6953
2nd
2nd
Fanie BotesSA National Barista Championship
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/22/6953
2nd
32nd
Stevo KühnWorld Barista Championship (Milan)
Plato Coffee
Source: canadacoffeechampionships.com
2024
6 results1st
2nd
Fanie BotesSA National Barista Championship
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/1/6733
2nd
38th
3rd
3rd
2023
5 results1st
Jeff StopforthSA National Latte Art Championship
Beaver Creek
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/1/6518
1st
Stevo KuhnSA National Barista Championship
Urban Brew Barista Academy (Free State)
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/1/6518
23rd
Stevo KuhnWorld Barista Championship (Athens)
Urban Brew
Source: canadacoffeechampionships.com
2nd
3rd
Fanie BotesSA National Barista Championship
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/1/6518
2022
1 result17th
Winston Douglas ThomasWorld Barista Championship (Melbourne)
Source: worldcoffeechampionships 2022 PDF
Roastery awards & major press
Coffee Magazine Awards, international listings and the odd heritage fact. One card per business, with everything I could source for them in one place. The year shown is the most recent result in that entry.
Monocle — 25 best coffee shops in the world (27 May 2026)
Source: monocle.com/business/best-coffee-shops-in-the-world
Bean There2025
CMA Coffee Team of the Year + Excellence in Coffee 2019; Best Manual Brewing 2022; Best Coffee Packaging 2025 (20-year anniversary)
Source: magazine.coffee
Bluebird2025
CMA Best New Roastery 2019; Roastery of the Year 2021 AND 2025; Best Alternative Brewing 2023
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/17/7058
Bootlegger2025
Kfm Best of the Cape — Best Coffee (5th consecutive win)
Source: ewn.co.za (FlySafair partnership article)
CMA Best New Roastery 2022; Barista of the Year (Hee Ye Kim) + Best On the Go 2025; co-founder Winston Thomas 3x SA Barista Champ (2017/18/20)
Source: magazine.coffee
Sorcery2025
CMA Roastery of the Year NOMINEE 4 consecutive years (2022-2025), no win
Source: coffeejournal.co.za blog
Yellow Jacket2025
CMA Excellence in Coffee (Shewaan Khan); Roastery of the Year nominee
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/17/7058
Rosetta Roastery2023
CMA Roastery of the Year (3x: 2019, 2023 + earlier)
Source: magazine.coffee + rosettaroastery.com/pages/our-story
Motherland2022
CMA Best Franchise Award
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/17/6486
CMA Cafe of the Year
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/17/6486
SEAM2022
CMA Roastery of the Year
Source: magazine.coffee CMA timeline
CMA Best Alternative Brewing Experience
Source: magazine.coffee — NOTE: 'World's 100 Best #11' claims likely refer to Espressolab (Turkish chain, De Waterkant), a DIFFERENT business; excluded
Father Coffee2020
CMA Roastery of the Year
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/17/5995
Legado2020
CMA Best Cafe Design (Stellenbosch)
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/17/5995
Quaffee2020
A Shot in the Dark roasting comp — 2nd in final (self-reported)
Source: quaffee.co.za/about-us/awards-and-recognition
Terbodore2018
CMA Best Cafe Design (Big Dog Cafe Durban) + Eat Out 500
Source: terbodore.com blog
Truth Coffee2016
No.1 world's best coffee shops — The Daily Telegraph (claims 2 years running)
Source: travelstart.co.za + truth.capetown
Mastertons1924
SA's oldest operating roastery — founded 1924 (verified), 100 years celebrated 2024
Source: magazine.coffee/blog/1/6819
How this page is put together
- Every row was read off a source I could name and dated to a year. Most come from Coffee Magazine's competition coverage, the world championship results archives, and roastery pages where the claim is about their own history.
- I don't score, rank or rate anything on this page. These are other people's results, reported as they were published. Our own scoring lives on the roaster directory.
- Self-reported awards are labelled as self-reported. Where two businesses have confusingly similar names, the source line spells out which one the claim belongs to.
- 5 of these results belong to businesses we don't list in the directory yet — Independent / Plato Coffee, Plato Coffee, Beaver Creek, Urban Brew Barista Academy (Free State), Urban Brew — so those names aren't links.
- Last checked August 2026. Coverage of latte art, brewers cup and cup tasters in the SA press is thinner than barista coverage, so there are podiums missing. Know one? Email [email protected] with a source and I'll add it.
Common questions
Who is the current South African barista champion?
Xander Venter took first place at the 2026 SCASA National Barista Championship, competing for Robin Chat Coffee Roasters.
What are the Coffee Magazine Awards?
The Coffee Magazine Awards (CMAs) are South Africa’s industry awards, voted on annually and covering categories like Roastery of the Year, Cafe of the Year, packaging and brewing. They are not the same thing as the SCASA competitions — the SCASA nationals are judged skills competitions with a podium, the CMAs are industry awards.
How do South African baristas do at the World Barista Championship?
We have 4 world championship placings on record for South African competitors: 17th in 2022, 23rd in 2023, 38th in 2024, 32nd in 2025. None of the placings we can source reached a final — the best of them is 17th. That is not a criticism of anyone; the field is brutal and the travel budget behind an SA competitor is a fraction of what the top nations spend.
Is this list complete?
No, and I would rather say so than pretend otherwise. It covers what I could source and date from Coffee Magazine, the world championship results archives and the roasteries’ own pages. Latte art, brewers cup and cup tasters coverage in the SA press is thinner than barista coverage, so there are almost certainly podiums missing. If you know of one, tell me and I will add it with the source.