On Friday, 16 November 2018, Bottomless Blessings Coffee Roastery opened its doors in Ermelo. The first coffee roastery in Ermelo. One of South-Africa’s top baristas, Stevo Kuhn, did some coffee appreciation training on the day we opened and helped the owner to survive the first day of trade. At first the shop was open for only a few hours per day as the only barista was also a full time pastor. It was clear soon that customers would like to visit the shop at any time. Especially those who came all the way from nearby towns. A young girl from Ermelo came to see me because she would like to be a barista in my coffee shop. Esri soon proved to be a great assit to the shop and just the help the owner needed to sort out all the growing pains of a new shop.

After only a month, from beginning of January 2019, the shop was open from seven in the morning until five in the afternoon. The owner’s first choice is not to be a barista but to roast, but it soon became clear that the two would go hand in hand in a small town like Ermelo.