The cosy café, just barely six months old, is bustling with what appears to be a mix of new-comers and regular customers, all with one thing in common – a love and appreciation for great coffee. And great coffee it certainly is. With the focus completely on the beautiful flavour of the Arabica coffee, The Grind offers an array of hot and cold variants to tickle your fancy, including the signature coffee in a cone, a gas-infused cold-brew coffee stout as well as a selection of smoothies.
The décor is quirky and bursting with a sense of energy congruent to the product, and I simply love the idea of using bicycle wheels as coffee tables.
Our order consisted of one macchiato served inside an ice-cream cone cup (#coffeeinacone), and one iced-latte, as well as a slice of their delicious banana and date loaf. The iced-latte is your typical iced-version of the hot beverage – what makes this one special is the actual coffee; its flavour offers an experience all on its own, and definitely provides some insight behind the “Rise and Grind Blend” name. All I’m saying is, you’ll have energy for days!
The coffee in a cone met all my expectations and then some – the coffee is super strong but full of flavour, and the cone has multiple layers of chocolate (yum!) to prevent the coffee from seeping through the cone (you’ve got three minutes to drink up), also be sure to hold the cone at an angle so as not to spill.
Besides being custom-made and unique to The Grind, the cone is also a fully-patented product, and one that is clearly gaining some serious traction on social media – This delicious novelty is making its mark as one of the most Instagrammed coffees in the world (check out www.instagram.com/thegrindza/). We chatted to The Grind owner Dayne Levinrad, who revealed that he is experiencing plenty of interest from coffee shops around the country who are keen to get their hands on the cones too (please bring them to Cape Town!). Personally I feel like all ice-cream cones should be manufactured like this one – more chocolate=more goodness, am I right?
The banana and date loaf comes in a very shareable-sized portion. The slice is toasted and served with honey and almond butter – a great combination and overall a delicious snack. This delicious loaf is sugar-free (for all the health-nuts out there), and the inclusion of dates, although hardly noticeable, offers the sweetness that you’d expect – so you don’t even realise there’s no sugar in it. With wellness being the goal here, you can also opt for almond milk in your coffee rather than cow’s milk.
Levinrad believes in supporting the artisan which leads him to source exclusive Arabica coffee beans, traded directly with the farmers in South America and North Africa so there’s no middle man. These coffee beans are also packaged and sold at the store, along with the World’s Best Brittle (no, really), and some other yummy treats. I, for one, am really keen to see where the next coffee in a cone pops up – fingers crossed it’s closer to home!
