I went to Clearwater Mall and after checking out the new Walmart there, I felt like a cup of coffee. You know how it goes. I was walking past a little shop called XPRESSO Café. I knew absolutely nothing about it. It just looked like a decent spot to order an Americano — or what we’re nowadays calling an Africano.
So I stepped up to order.
Then I looked up at the menu. The beverages menu first.
And honestly… I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Every single coffee and every other drink was priced at R14.
I thought maybe I was reading it wrong. Then I looked at the food menu. And lo and behold — everything was also R14. Every item. No tricks. No “from R14”. Just R14.
I ordered a coffee and a pepper steak pie. The coffee was great. The pie was delicious. And I stood there thinking, how on earth has this coffee shop managed to get this right? Prices like this feel almost unbelievable in today’s world.
Now, this clearly isn’t a business model for everyone. But it really does beg the question: why, oh why, do so many other coffee shops charge so much?
I’ve spent plenty of time in Johannesburg, where coffee prices are already sharper than Cape Town. And where I live, along the Southern Peninsula seaboard, coffee shops are everywhere — but they’re catering for local and international tourists, and you feel it in the prices. A cup of coffee at R35 is pretty standard. Food? Forget it. You’re not getting a proper meal for R35. Maybe a cheese sandwich if you’re lucky, or a slice of French toast. Walk away from a breakfast and you’re well over R100.
It’s lovely, sure. But it’s expensive.
That’s why seeing something like XPRESSO Café is so refreshing. Somewhere along the line, an entrepreneur looked at this market and said: here’s a gap. A real gap. And instead of following conventional thinking, they went against the grain.
How they do it, I honestly don’t know. These margins must be razor-thin — paper-thin. But they’ve clearly got a grip on overheads and chosen high-volume shopping centres where foot traffic does the heavy lifting. Sell more cups. Move more food. Keep prices low. Simple in theory, very hard in practice.
And the customers? They’re loving it. The place isn’t chaotic or overcrowded, but there’s a steady stream of people coming through all the time. That tells you everything you need to know.
According to XPRESSO Café themselves, the thinking is simple. When you’re sticking to a budget, treating yourself is usually the first thing to go. Their goal was to create a space where you can still enjoy the coffee shop experience — without feeling guilty about the price.
They’ve been serving thousands of customers across South Africa for years now, starting out as the country’s first ultra-low-priced takeaway coffee concept. Even as costs have risen, they’ve managed to keep increases minimal, holding onto the idea that good coffee and decent food shouldn’t be a luxury reserved for a few.
Flavourful coffee. Proper pastries. Simple sandwiches. Affordable treats. Any time of the day.
Pretty cool, right?
In a market where coffee keeps getting more expensive and “small indulgences” are quietly disappearing from everyday life, it’s genuinely encouraging to see a brand like XPRESSO Café making it work. We wish them continued success in an incredibly competitive coffee shop market — and hopefully, their story encourages other entrepreneurs to be brave, think differently, and maybe shake things up a bit too.
Because at the end of the day, good coffee shouldn’t have to cost the earth.
