Home Is Where The Heart Is

With a great love for Africa grinding at its core, Motherland Coffee Company is a strong proponent of African brews. Started by a trio of passionate locals, this brand is shaking up the industry with its nationalistic offerings and unique approach

- Lisa Witepski

Emblazoned on every cup of coffee served at Motherland Coffee Company is an invitation to “Drink the Love”. It’s a particularly apt tagline – this is, after all, a brand built on love: love of coffee, love of community, and most of all, love of Africa. In fact, these loves are the very cornerstones of the company – and have been ever since husband-and-wife team Rob and Kirstin Maud, along with Kirstin’s brother, Sebastian Schneider, were inspired to set up their own coffee shop.

The springboard for the venture was a grand tour taken by Rob and Kirstin to Australia, China, the USA and Europe. “Amazing as it was, we found that we really missed Africa. Everyone thought our travels would inspire us to move abroad but, instead, we were motivated to lay down even stronger roots,” Rob recalls.

More than simply live out their love of the continent, the couple wanted to share, broadcast and propagate it. “When you leave your home country, you have the opportunity to see it with fresh eyes. What we saw was just how much Africa has to offer. We wanted to give it a voice so that it could shout out these positives,” Kirstin enthuses.

On their return to SA in 2009, Rob and Kirstin were looking for their next venture and wanted to focus on something that reflected their passion for their home continent. Sebastian, who was working in advertising at the time, was inspired by Joburg’s creative scene. Back then, most tributes to Africa were expressed through beads, Ndebele patterns or animal print, so the trio wanted a completely different vehicle. “Why not coffee?” they asked themselves, especially since coffee culture – although not well established in South Africa at that point – has its origins in a dark drink first made in Ethiopia. And so the idea for Motherland Coffee Company started brewing.