With Cabine du Cap being completely off the grid, and the upcoming Caracal ‘Bond lair’ mountain villa being the pinnacle of our offering, we need a coffee machine that complements the high-level solar, gas, purified borehole water and Rare Woods sustainable wood construction we’ve put so much effort into.

Coffee pods are not an option.

I’ve had a good run with my Nespresso machines. We’ve got three at home, two at the Airbnb, and two at the farm. Some of them are just the basic machine, some are the machine with the milk frother on the side, and some are the hardcore versions, with integrated milk. But they all use pods.

I try my best to recycle, but you get lazy and one can never be a perfect citizen. So I thought I should try and avoid them altogether. What if I could just buy the raw Importers Coffee beans and brew a cup from that – directly? Such is my recent descent into the world of automatic ‘bean to cup’ coffee machines.

I was at a mate’s place in Langebaan a couple of weekends back (not Eben Etzebeth) and was pleasantly surprised (not really, as said friend is known for ticking all the boxes) at the coffee setup in the morning. I expected pods, as most ‘jacked’ homes and holiday homes usually sport a Nespresso machine or two. But that is clearly passé, and rightly so.

In front of me stood a ‘bean to cup’ automatic coffee machine. It had a colour display, with little icons showing colour images of different types of coffees. From cappuccino and cortado to latte and Americano – they were all there.

I pressed the nicest looking icon and it jumped into action – grinding the beans stored inside and delivering fresh brew into my cup, with foam to match the barista’s servings at Café du Cap.

My eyes darted to the brand – ‘Jura’, it read. I’d never heard of it before. I jumped online and checked out the range. Wow – reassuringly expensive…

But then I found the Jura E6, and at R12 000, you might need to watch this video:

Poetry in motion.

Look, it’s pricey, but the top of the range Nespresso machines cost close to R10 000, and with the saving made not buying pods, I think it makes sense.

Importers Coffee imports top quality coffees from the world’s leading equatorial coffee-growing regions, and they use the same coffee-brewing methods that have made them such a firm favourite over the years, so that’s also a win.

Being an international man of mystery myself, these caught my attention:

The list of options goes on, and on, and on – have a gander for yourself.

And hey, there’s one other little thing you’re saving…

The planet.

Greta Thunberg, and future generations, thank you.