Cedar 

This is a story about two guys that decided that coffee was more than just a hobby, it was a way of life. Cedar was founded by Leigh Wentzel and Winston Thomas out of a yearning passion to make specialty coffee accessible to a larger conscious audience. It was built from many years within the industry mastering the craft for over seven years at leading roasteries within South Africa. Both Winston and Leigh led a personal journey at separate competing roasteries where they would be molded by leaders of the industry

Leigh plied his trade at Rosetta Roastery where he started out as a part-time driver and slowly progressed through the ranks of the barista, the head barista, a cafe manager, and ended as their roastery manager, a journey of seven years within the industry. He formed part of the team that won Coffee Magazine Roastery of the year 2018 and 2019.

Winston started off his formal Barista career at Origin Coffee Roasting in 2014. After 2,5 years he managed to win the 2017 South African Barista Championships and progress from Barista to head barista and eventually to wholesale relations and head of the Barista Academy. After leaving Origin at the end of 2017 he began consulting and training and has since won the South African Barista Championships in 2018 and 2020 and also the African Barista Championships in 2019. Winston is also a licensed Specialty Coffee Association Trainer (AST).

Aim

Coffee should be seen as a necessity instead of this niche product. The aim is to bridge the gap from commodity to specialty coffee consumers through sustainable coffee sourcing and education.

Coffee is a journey we would like to take you on regardless of your expertise in the field. We all started our journey drinking instant coffee, let us show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. At the height of this is ensuring that we play our part in supporting producers and building a sustainable supply chain by sourcing coffees of high quality. This ensures that we remain quality-focused and sustainable throughout. We pride ourselves on our African and Cape Townian heritage and strive to become the best coffee roastery in Africa and are recognized for our quality and expertise.