About
Born in Joburg.
Built for the World.
Built on friendships, roasted in small batches, and shipped with the belief that coffee from this continent deserves to be drunk with pride — wherever the cup is held.
Our origin
Built together, since 2016.
Manaka Coffee took shape in Joburg in late 2016. The spark came from time Bradley Symons spent across the road from a small roastery in Korea. The brand itself came together when Phumlani Sibeko and Neo Moleko joined as co-founders, with a single, clear ambition: build a South African coffee brand good enough to represent the country abroad — on equal terms.
Alessandro Khojane joined in 2018 and gave the team the lift it needed. The roastery has always been the core; the cafés and coffee bars followed because the cup deserves a proper room to be poured in.
The values have held the whole way: authenticity, humility, and being honest about where we're from. True Africa.
The name
Manaka.
Sesotho for the horns of a bull — a symbol of prosperity and determination.
The beans & the blends
Stories, not marketing.
Our beans come from across the coffee belt — the African highlands, the volcanic ridges of Central America, the high country of South America. Different terroirs, same standard: cups that read clearly, with body that doesn't fade, brightness that wakes the morning, and a finish you can still taste a beat later. We roast to bring those qualities out, never to mask them. Poured between 60–70°C — the narrow window where the coffee actually tastes like the coffee.
The blends are named the same way. Phats & Bones. Nguni. Tanzania AA. Not made up to sound clever — pulled from the people, the places and the animals we grew up with.
The café & the forecourt
Two places. One standard.
At Polofields, we pour pour-over, batch-brew and espresso, and serve food we make by hand — magwinya, boerie rolls, breakfast plates you'd actually want at home. Everything is halaal-certified.
At our Sasol forecourts we do one thing: make you a properly good coffee in two minutes flat. Same beans. Same care. No compromise just because you're in a hurry.
Come say hello
Five places across Johannesburg.
Or have a bag couriered — free on orders over R650.