Champion barista, Lungisa Vena, who won a national coffee-brewing competition in 2024 had Probus members engrossed with his talk on everything coffee at their recent AGM at the Port Alfred River & Ski boat club.
The effervescent and confident barista who whips up an endless stream of everyone’s favourite cup of coffee at Bean Tree Café at SuperSpar Rosehill Mall all-week, regards himelf as something of an expert on the origins of the product too.
Vena kicked off his barista career in 2016 in Cape Town before relocating to Port Alfred where he took up a barista position at the Bean Café in 2020. Following his second placing in a national barista competition in 2023, he managed to win the title in 2024.
“I am the best in barista in South Africa … not in Gqeberha or Port Alfred but the best in South Africa,” he said to laughter at the start of his talk.
“The original coffee comes from Ethiopia … coffee has its beginnings on this continent. Coffee is therapy; coffee is nice. The things we do is to heal people … when you are in a bad mood and you go to a coffee shop and buy your coffee we as baristas are able to calm you down with coffee.
He reminds the audience that he is not a “coffee-maker” but a “coffee specialist”.
“The thing I do is to change coffee in to art, I make art with coffee too. I design faces,” said Vena. I design works of art in the coffee. If you have a birthday for example, I make your day better.”
Vena says once Ethiopia started the coffee trend, Brazil took over the markets.
“Brazil is the highest producer of coffee in the world’. There are two types of beans. They are robusta and arabica. Robusta sells more than Arabica and even Vietnam is producing it. As time went by, many other countries started growing coffee.”
Vena says the first coffee shop was opened in Oxford in 1652.
“And my ambition is to one day have my own coffee shop. Because coffee is my thing and I love it. That’s why I make nice coffee because I am doing it with love.
“Coffee is actually a type of cherry and roasting coffee is actually is a long process.”
Taking questions from the floor, he explained why coffee was so expensive.
“It’s because it’s labour intensive and a lot of processing goes in to it and requires transport costs. The No 1 coffee today is Lavazza .. . it’s from Italy so it takes time to get to SA shores; if we grow our coffee in SA it won’t be expensive … there is actually a guy from Hamburg who owns a coffee shop at Stenden – he grows his own coffee.
“That coffee – it’s the best because it’s fresh. This brand in Hamburg contains oils as an ingredient … it makes it richer and stronger. We as a country must invest more in coffee. Coffee makes money and coffee is a big thing.”
“So he started a coffee business after he went from barista to developing the art of roasting … he went from barista to roasting beans. He bought his own coffee machine and decided to roast the coffee and made his money from there.
“But it’s not about the coffee; it’s about the person who makes the coffee,,” he said.
When asked about climatic conditions to cultivate the coffee bean, Lungisa said: “Coffee is grown in two tropics – both of those beans (robusta and Arabica) need different climates”.
Lungisa says in some areas of the world the robusta bean can’t be grown. “For some varieties you’ll need a damp, moist climate and for others a dry climate.” Some beans need the sun and others the rain. With robusta for example coffee growers roast them in the sun for weeks before they are packed in to bags.”
Another question from the floor: “What makes a good barista and what makes a bad barista?”
“It starts from where you grind your coffee. When they interview you at the big competitions they will ask you all the difficult questions: But you need to love what you are doing. Most of our customers notice when I’m not in the best of moods. You can be the best barista, but it you don’t give good service, you’ll be bad for any company and for business. You need to know your story need to master the skills of coffee-making and know all procedures to become the best.”
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, May 8, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
