This post, featuring Tilt Coffee, is the sixth in an occasional series about my favorite new coffeeshops in Joburg. 

I’ve lived in Melville for eight years and everyone knows I believe Melville is the best place to live in Johannesburg. Melville has pretty much everything and it’s all within walking distance: restaurants of every genre, bars, a grocery store, a park, a doctor’s office, a hardware store, art galleries, bakeries, hair salons, etc.

But until recently Melville was missing one important thing: A coffeeshop. Tilt Coffee has just filled that gap.

Tilt Coffee on 4th Avenue in Melville.

A Melville Coffeeshop (not a shop selling coffee)

Other Melvillians might argue this point, as Melville has always had lots of shops selling coffee. But a shop selling coffee is not necessarily a coffeeshop — at least not to me.

When I say “coffeeshop”, I’m talking about a place that prioritizes coffee above all other offerings. I’m talking about a place where you can sit down and order if you want, but which also has a counter you can easily walk up to for a takeaway coffee without bumping into half a dozen busy servers. I’m talking about a place with a handsome barista, serving coffee made from locally roasted beans. I’m talking about a place with nice pastries and healthy fruit shakes and sparse but stylish furnishings.

I’m talking about a hipster coffeeshop, if you will. Hipster in the best possible sense of the word.

Inside Tilt Coffee. It’s hipster, for sure. But awesomely so.

Tilt is in a one-room, Cape-Dutch-style building on 4th Avenue, across from 27 Boxes. It’s possibly the cutest building in Melville.

I love this building. It’s like it was made to be a one-room coffeeshop.

Inside, Tilt has wallpaper with lemurs on it. Tilt’s coffee comes from Craft, one of the best roasters in Joburg. Lia, who owns Tilt with her boyfriend Wayne, has a beautiful smile and beautiful tattoos to match. Lia remembers everyone’s name.

Perfect iced coffee and dainty plant with lemur wallpaper in the background.

The Popeye shake with spinach, banana, lemon zest, ginger, and a bunch of other yummy/healthy things.

The lovely Lia, about to serve some avocado toast to my friend Kathleen. This isn’t normal avo toast though — it has pesto and chickpeas and hemp seed and other spices mixed in.

Lia’s grandmother makes delicious homemade Greek butter cookies called Kourabiedes, for sale on the counter at Tilt. They are delicious.

Kourabiedes.

Tilt has limited seating. But the beautiful garden at 27 Boxes is right across the street — it’s a great place to sit on a bench under an acacia tree and enjoy a Tilt cappuccino. I did exactly that on the day Tilt opened a couple of months ago.

Thank you, Tilt Coffee. Melville is complete now.

Tilt Coffee is at 75 4th Avenue, Melville. Call +27-82-783-6557.