With certain global high-street coffee chains proving themselves to be a bit ethically questionable recently *cough-taxdodgingbandits-cough*, you may assume that the Truth Coffee folk in Cape Town are, with that name, making a statement about their impeccable business scruples. While we’re sure they are blessed with good character, in fact they are referring to the way they roast their beans. Properly. My knowledge of the complex coffee world is so non-existent that I consider it a significant personal triumph if what I’m served looks vaguely brown and hot, but for the connoisseur consumer – all else at We Heart Towers, for example – proper preparation is a serious matter.

Entirely appropriate then that designers Haldane Martin didn’t mess around with this project. Everything about their industrial interior means business – for the most part as solid and functional as a lump hammer, but with delicate features skilfully chiselled into the rough façade. These two opposing elements fittingly converge in the huge, and hugely important, bean roasting machine visible behind the bar – if not exactly beautiful, then certainly interesting, with a good deal of personality. A muscular riposte to the bloated fat-cats of the coffee marketplace.

Photo, David Donde

Truth Coffee – interior design by Haldane Martin, Photography Micky Hoyle
unless otherwise stated.