Two young South Africans have launched a new range of instant coffee and hope to see it in grocery stores across the country soon.

Childhood best friends Karabo Troy Makakaba and Katlego Mathibela are the brains behind freeze-dried instant coffee Karabego – which is a combination of their names.

According to  Business Insider, Makakaba has had a love for coffee since his university days and decided to create his own brand. He shared the idea with Mathibela about a year ago and the friends then brewed a plan.

“I love coffee so much. This thing of buying other people’s coffee didn’t appeal to me so I figured, let me just create my own”

Troy Makakaba

“We noticed that filter-ground [coffee] is high maintenance and requires machines. Our market is the black community and not everyone has a coffee machine,” Makakaba told Business Insider.

Mathibela approached various companies in the coffee market and finally found one in Centurion that helped them source the green coffee beans from Ethiopia and Brazil they needed to start their business.  

The pair made their first deliveries in June and they have since seen their brand go from strength to strength.