A friend of mine has moved away from coffee-shop-lined Kloof Street, to seemingly coffee-shop-free Kenilworth. And to say that he’s rather distraught about the lack of decent cappuccinos (within walking distance) would be something of an understatement.
You see, he’s somewhat fussy about his coffee (as one must be!), and the watered down ricoffy-like versions he’s been getting in his neck of the woods have been getting him down (I feel his pain).
So, because life’s too short to drink bad coffee (yes, I’m a Seattle fan), I am now attempting to leap into the breach, to find, for him, a place that serves a keener, meaner brew that will wake him up instead of turning his stomach.
I began my search on the net.
Typing in www.buondi.co.za seemed an obvious way to start, but let me warn you that once you have turned that particular corner there is no going back. It redirects to http://nowaynescafe.itgo.com – the ‘No Way Nescafe‘ campaign. Heard of it? Neither had I…
Suffice to say, it’s not quite what I was looking for, but it did tell me a whole lot more about the ‘dark underbelly‘ of the coffee industry than I really needed to know. Coffee farmers “drowning in poverty” while Nestlé is “drowning in profits”. That sort of thing.
Buondi is, of course, a product of Nestlé, hence the connection. I couldn’t quite work out whether they were serious or not, but I suppose they must be.
Undeterred, I then found www.buondicaffe.com, the main website for Buondi, but entirely in Portuguese and therefore not of much use to me. Substituting ‘co.za’ for ‘com’ I hit the jackpot: Buondi Caffe South Africa.

So far so good. I browsed through the history of coffee (the plant originated in Ethiopia, apparently, and still grows wild there), read the ‘Buondi story‘ (am I a ‘Buondi person’, I wondered), and found out about becoming a ‘CoffeeMaster‘ (for those on the quest for the perfect espresso).
I stopped short of downloading their ‘Bold BUONDI Girl Desktop Theme‘.
What I didn’t find was the list of outlets that I’d been hoping for. Stumped! So, I have emailed them to ask whether such a list exists (and, more to the point, whether there happen to be any in and around Kenilworth).
Here’s hoping they get back to me some time soon – I fear for my friend’s mental health.

It’s going to be sad when you finally get that list and your cappuccino tastes like Shi* becasue its made like Shi*
Posted by Rolando | 25. Oct, 2007, 12:06 pmWere you ever able to find any Buondi retailers?? Please share if you found any!!
Posted by M | 17. Jan, 2008, 5:16 amI never heard a word from them folks… and haven’t, as yet, spotted any Buondi signs in that neck of the woods… my friend got so desperate for a decent caffeine fix that he invested in an espresso machine, spent some time perfecting frothing the milk (it is definitely an art), and is now making his own, very decent, cappuccinos…
Posted by Pia Taylor | 20. Jan, 2008, 9:18 pmJust to let you know, that I was the CoffeeMaster that you found on the buondicaffe website. I now reside in the UK and have done so since November 2007. If you would like details of Buondi sites in Cape Town, Try contacting the Nestle FoodServices offices in Cape Town. Buondi is a Nestle brand and is imported from there roastery in Portugal. It is a very good coffee, but it still has to be made correctly like any other.
Posted by Mel | 06. Aug, 2009, 11:48 pm