Rich & Rumble started with a simple frustration: good coffee was either imported and stale, or roasted by people who had never met the farmers. We wanted neither. So we built a small roastery that works directly with growers we know, roasts in batches we can stand behind, and sells gear we actually use on our own brew bars.
Founder & Head Roaster
Thabo spent eight years as a barista in Johannesburg before he ever touched a roasting drum. He learned to cup in Limpopo, sitting with farmers at their drying beds, and still signs off on every single-origin lot that leaves the roastery. His roast notes are the handwritten ones you see on our bags.
Green Coffee Buyer
Lerato manages our direct trade relationships across Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and the East African highlands. She travels to source regions four times a year, cups every potential lot, and keeps the farm-level records that let us trace each bag back to a specific harvest.
Brew Gear Specialist
Daniel runs our equipment side and leads the first-Saturday cupping sessions. Before joining, he managed a specialty coffee bar in Cape Town and competed in national brewing championships twice. He tests every grinder and brewer we stock against our own roast profiles before it makes the catalogue.
Quality Control & Lab Lead
Amina joined us after finishing her Q Grader certification. She runs the morning cupping table twice a week, tracks how each roast develops over its rest window, and writes the brew guides that accompany every bean profile on our site.
Production Roaster
Sipho operates our 12kg drum roaster on the two roast days each week. He has been with us since the first batch and knows exactly how the machine behaves in Johannesburg's dry winters and humid summers. His consistency is why our espresso blend tastes the same bag after bag.
Customer & Brew Support
Naledi answers the questions that come through our contact page and helps home baristas troubleshoot their pour over technique. She also packs every order by hand, which is why your bag arrives with a note about the roast date and a suggested resting period.
We roast on Tuesdays and Fridays. Orders placed before noon go out the same week, so your coffee is never more than a few days off the drum.
Every batch is tasted against its profile before it is bagged. If a roast misses the mark, we hold it back and roast again rather than send out something we would not drink.
The brewers and grinders in our shop are the ones we use in the roastery. If a tool does not perform consistently, it does not make it into the catalogue.
A few things that come up at the roastery counter and in emails. If yours is not here, write to us and we will answer within a day.
We roast twice a week in our 12kg drum roaster, usually on Tuesday and Friday mornings. Orders placed before noon go out the same day, so your bag is typically resting for two to five days by the time it reaches you. That is the sweet spot for most single origins and blends.
We keep it simple: you can order a single bag or set up a recurring delivery for a specific bean or blend. Subscriptions pause or skip anytime, and you get the same roast date as everyone else. No locked-in contracts, no prepaid credits to track.
For a first pour over setup, we usually point people to a V60 or a flat-bottom brewer like the Kalita Wave. Both are forgiving once you get the grind right. If you want to taste the difference between our washed and natural lots clearly, a simple gooseneck kettle and a decent burr grinder matter more than the brewer itself.
Yes. We host cupping sessions on the first Saturday of every month for regulars and anyone curious about what we roast. You will taste the current single origins side by side, see the roaster in action, and can ask about brew methods. Seats are limited, so it helps to let us know you are coming.
Single origins come from one farm or washing station and change through the year as harvests arrive. The espresso blend is built for consistency: we combine beans from Limpopo and East Africa so the shot profile stays balanced even when you switch milk or brewing equipment. Both are roasted to suit their intended use.
Keep them in the resealable bag, press out the air, and store it in a cool, dark cupboard. Avoid the fridge or freezer for daily use, as moisture and odours will find their way in. Ground coffee loses aroma fast, so grind just before brewing if you can.
Looking for a specific brew recipe or bean profile? Check our product pages for tasting notes and suggested methods, or get in touch and we will point you in the right direction.
A short timeline of the decisions, roasts, and relationships that shaped the roastery since we first fired up the drum.
2019
We started in a small garage in Johannesburg with a second-hand drum roaster and a single green bean supplier from Limpopo. Our first batch was a washed Yirgacheffe that we nearly over-roasted, but the regulars at the local market kept asking for more.
2021
We signed our first direct trade agreements with two smallholder farms in Mpumalanga. This meant visiting the farms during harvest, cupping lots on site, and paying above commodity prices. It changed how we talk about our single origin bags.
2022
We added a practical range of manual brewers, grinders, and filters for home baristas. That same year we started cupping sessions on the first Saturday of every month, which quickly became a regular meetup for our customers to taste new lots before they went online.
2023
We rebuilt our online catalogue around brew guides for each bean profile. Instead of just listing tasting notes, every single origin and espresso blend now comes with a recommended recipe, grind size, and water temperature, so you know what to expect before you buy.
2024
We settled into a steady rhythm of roasting every Tuesday and Friday. The consistency lets us offer fresher stock to local shops and online customers, and it gives us room to experiment with small experimental lots from East Africa without disrupting our core range.
A small roastery in Johannesburg with a clear idea: buy green beans directly from farmers we know, roast them in small batches, and give home brewers the tools and guidance to get a consistent cup. The path from a garage setup to a twice-weekly roast schedule took a few deliberate turns.
2019
We started with a second-hand 12kg drum roaster and a single origin from a cooperative in Limpopo. Roasting twice a week, we delivered to a handful of regulars who wanted to know exactly when their beans were roasted.
2021
We formalised our sourcing trips to Mpumalanga and the East African highlands. Cupping harvests on the farm and paying well above commodity price meant we could lock in the lots we wanted and plan our roast schedule around them.
2023
Customers kept asking what grinder or kettle we used for a particular bean. We started carrying a practical range of manual brewers, scales, and filters, and wrote a brew guide for every profile we roast.
In 2022 we opened our cupping table to regulars on the first Saturday of every month. What started as a way to get feedback on new lots became a standing appointment. People bring their own brewers, compare notes on the latest espresso blend, and leave with a bag of whatever we cupped that morning.
Where we are now