What if I told you that despite what you might believe, you haven’t actually been starting your day with a cup of coffee?

That’s if you drink instant coffee. You don’t. Drink.. Instant Coffee… Do you?

Oh dear – you might want to look away right about now.

According to Business Insider SA, South Africa has a new draft regulation that determines what can be called and marketed as coffee, and some of the most popular brands are falling short.

Coffee will be classified in the following way:

• Instant coffee must have at least 2,25% caffeine
• Instant decaffeinated coffee can contain up to 0,3% caffeine.
• Ground coffee and instant coffee can contain zero flavouring
• Coffee essence, or liquid coffee extract, can only contain glycerol or sugar. Any other ingredient is not allowed.
• Instant coffee must dissolve in boiling water in 30 seconds with moderate stirring to qualify as coffee.

Finally, to be considered coffee, the mixture or ground coffee in question must be at least 75% coffee.

Now for the bad news…

By that standard Koffiehuis, which translates literally as “Coffee House”, is not coffee because it contains glucose.

Meanwhile neither Frisco nor Ricoffy qualifies as coffee under the draft rules, or as coffee mixtures – or even as coffee and chicory mixture. Both contain only 25% coffee.

Koffiehuis, Frisco, and Ricoffy – thanks for playing.

Those brands, which are often found in the complimentary coffee corner of your standard B&B, have ruined many a morning for me when I’ve been travelling across the country.

The safest way to ensure that you are getting the kick you need to make the best of your day is to stick with a brand that hand roasts their beans on an old traditional Probat drum roaster.

That’s how 2oceansvibe kicks things off every day. And probably the reason why we were able to hit 800k unique readers for the last month. Listen up…

Importers Coffee imports top quality coffee beans from the world’s leading equatorial coffee-growing regions, and they use the same coffee-brewing methods that have made them such a favourite over the years. In fact, they’re the oldest coffee roaster in the Western Cape.

FACT.

If you’re out and about in the ‘burbs, stop in at their famous shop in Newlands – 28 Kildare Street, and see for yourself. Those who find themselves town-side can grab a cup at Café du Cap (113 Loop Street).

You can also beat the queues and avoid the winter weather by stocking up on their pods and beans to use at home.

Once you’ve invited good, honest coffee into your life, how you take it is up to you. Seth has some opinions on the cow’s milk versus almond milk debate, but he doesn’t have to drink your cuppa, you do.

If you need one more reason to ditch the chicory, just remember: life is hard enough without finding out that your coffee has been lying to you.

[source:businessinsider]