Ethiopia, GujiWashed heirloom, 1,900 m
Bright and floral. Best as a V60 filter or a long black. Milk flattens it, so we will gently steer you away from a latte with this one.
- Bergamot
- Peach
- Black tea
Roast levelLight
R185Reserve a bag
Compensation Beach Road, Ballito
Roasted on Tuesday. Poured before the school run.
Small-batch beans roasted three times a week in the back room, pulled as flat whites out front. A generator keeps the machines on through load-shedding, so the 06:30 coffee happens either way.
Open nowcloses 16:00
Single-origin roasts
Three bags. Roasted this week.
250 g bags, whole bean or ground to order. Roast date is stamped on the label. We roast Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and nothing sits longer than ten days.
Burundi, KayanzaRed bourbon, natural process
Our house espresso for most of the year. Sweet, round and forgiving in a home machine. This is the bean in your flat white.
- Red plum
- Cocoa
- Brown sugar
Roast levelMedium
R175Reserve a bag
Brazil, CerradoYellow catuai, pulped natural
Roasted for people who like their coffee to taste like coffee. Low acidity, heavy body, and it holds up in a plunger or a moka pot.
- Hazelnut
- Dark chocolate
- Toffee
Roast levelMedium dark
R165Reserve a bag
The room
A panel-beater's shop, a 5 kg drum roaster, and a lot of neighbours.
Umlilo opened in 2019 in a corner of Compensation Beach Road that used to smell of surf wax and neoprene. The roaster went in first, the counter second, and the chairs came from the Salt Rock church hall sale.
The name means fire in isiZulu. It is a fair description of a Ballito January in a room with a roaster running, and of the coffee, which we roast a little lighter than most of the coast likes because the beans deserve it.
2019Established, Ballito
3Roasts a week
40 kgBeans roasted weekly
Visit
Find us between the two Spar bags.
Free parking on Compensation Beach Road before 08:00. After that, try Douglas Crescent behind the shops. The counter is wheelchair accessible and dogs are welcome outside.
Opening hours
| Monday to Friday | 06:30 to 16:00 |
| Saturday | 07:00 to 14:00 |
| Sunday | 07:30 to 13:00 |
| Public holidays | 08:00 to 13:00 |
Generator on site. Open through every load-shedding stage.
Compensation Beach RdDouglas Crescent
Umlilo Coffee Roasters12 Compensation Beach Road, Ballito 4420
Opposite the pharmacy, next to the laundromat Get directions
Opposite the pharmacy, next to the laundromat Get directions
Loyalty
Ten stamps. The tenth cup is on us.
No app, no phone number, no marketing emails. A paper card that lives in your wallet and gets a stamp for every coffee over R35. Lose it and we will believe you, once.
- One stamp per coffee, including filter and cold brew.
- Two stamps on Tuesdays, when the roaster is running and the shop smells the best.
- Bags of beans earn three stamps.
Umlilo loyaltyCard holder: Thandeka, since March
No. 04176 of 10 stamps4 coffees to go
Regulars
What the neighbours say.
Left on the chalkboard by the door, typed up here word for word.
Stage 4 hit at 06:00 and they were the only place on Compensation Beach Road with the lights on. Flat white was the same as always.
I stopped buying supermarket beans after the Guji. The roast date is on the bag, which nobody else around here does.
Rusk, cortado, ten minutes of quiet before the M4 fills up. Best R56 I spend all week.