Espresso Lab Microroasters was established in 2009 and roasts at The Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, where its roastery café is open to the public. The room serves a long list of espresso and filter drinks and a few coffee cocktails, and sells coffee gear, magazines and books. The second site is a bakery and café in De Waterkant. The food and drink menus differ between the two rooms and change with the seasons, and the kitchen is halal friendly.

Espresso Lab is part of the Espressolab global family, a group with more than 400 stores worldwide. By its own account the Woodstock flagship was voted first in Africa and 11th worldwide in The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops. Its slogan is “Coffee flavours are subjective. Drink the one you love.”

The coffees are single farms and washing stations named for the people behind them: Rodrigo Sanchez at Finca Monteblanco in Huila, Petrona Perez and her mother at Finca Satchibal in Huehuetenango, the Baraona family at Los Pirineos in El Salvador, the Castro Kahle family at Volcán Azul in Costa Rica, and stations run with Muraho Trading in Rwanda. Each bag lists the producer, growing altitude, variety, process and roast date. Among the lots are Geishas from Costa Rica and Peru and two Cup of Excellence coffees, an SL28 from Hacienda Colima that placed second in 2025 and a Volcán Azul Geisha that placed fourth. A 1 kg bag sold as “HELLO, my name is coffee”, the roaster’s “perfectly imperfect roast”, is the budget option.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Espresso Lab Microroasters