Award‑winning
coffee.Off‑grid & on the road.
König Coffee is the proud coffee partner of CHARGE — freshly roasted on site at the padstal, at every off-grid solar charging station across South Africa.
Two off-grid originals, one cup.
When two off-grid originals share the same sun, partnership is almost inevitable.
König Coffee has spent more than two decades quietly building one of South Africa's most respected artisan roasteries — and somewhere along the way, we made a decision that now feels prophetic: roast every bean with sunlight. Today, our two roasteries in Cape Town and Johannesburg run on 100% solar power, the same energy CHARGE uses at every padstal along its network.
So when CHARGE began building its off-grid solar charging network around the padstal — the cultural heart of every South African road trip — there was only one coffee partner that made sense. We are profoundly proud to be it. And for every station, we're bringing the roastery to the padstal itself.
From the N3 corridor to the next three padstals.
König is live at two CHARGE padstals on the N3 today, with three more next on the N1.
Network Status
König Live: N3 Reitz · N3 Tugela
CHARGE Network: N12 Wolmaransstad
Next on N1: Matjiesfontein · Three Sisters · Springfontein
König Roasteries: Cape Town · Johannesburg
Decarbonising the long road home.
CHARGE — formally Zero Carbon Charge — is rolling out an off-grid EV charging network unlike anything else on the continent. Along South Africa's most important highways, they are building solar-powered charging stations that generate their own electricity on site — using solar canopies and battery storage to deliver power that never touches Eskom.
No load-shedding. No tariff volatility. Just clean, predictable energy generated where it's used. And while your car charges, you're not stuck at a fuel pump — you're inside a padstal.
The N3 corridor — South Africa's busiest economic artery between Johannesburg and Durban — is now live. The N12 follows. Next on the N1: Matjiesfontein, Three Sisters, Springfontein. Three padstals at a time, the national network is taking shape.
Two decades. Three continents of beans. One sun.
König Coffee began as a small-batch artisan roastery and grew, slowly and stubbornly, into a name trusted across South Africa and Namibia. We source green beans from Central America, Brazil and East Africa, then roast them at our solar-powered roasteries in Cape Town and Johannesburg — and now, at every CHARGE padstal too.
For CHARGE, we've gone further. A König small-batch roaster lives on site at each padstal. Local hands. Local jobs. The smell of fresh beans hitting the air at 7am. Your espresso wasn't roasted weeks ago in a warehouse — it was roasted that morning, twenty paces from the counter you ordered it at.
Our flagship Java Reserve has taken Gold at the Aurora International Taste Challenge four times — 2021, 2022, 2023, and again in 2025. But the achievement we're quietly proudest of is harder to display on a shelf: every König bag is roasted by sunlight.
Two brands, one philosophy.
From the Karoo to KZN, the padstal is the great equaliser of the South African road. Off-grid by necessity. Local by tradition. Honest by character. The standard CHARGE and König have set is the standard the padstal has always demanded — refusing 'good enough' when only the best will do.
Both run on sunlight.
CHARGE generates its electricity on site with solar canopies and battery storage. König has been solar-roasting since long before it was fashionable. The same energy that fast-charges your car has roasted your coffee — and now, both happen at the padstal.
Roasted at the padstal.
For every CHARGE station, König brings a small-batch roaster on site. Beans roasted that morning, twenty paces from the counter where you ordered. The smell, the craft, the freshness — the difference you can actually taste.
70% from the community.
At least 70% of everything sold inside a CHARGE padstal is sourced locally — produce, baking, crafts, the lot. CHARGE builds in the community. König roasts in the community. The padstal employs the community. Every cup is part of it.
Recharge yourself, while you charge your car.
Pulling into a CHARGE padstal shouldn't feel like a fuel stop. It should feel like an arrival — solar canopies overhead, fresh local produce at the door, the smell of König beans being roasted in the back, and a proper cup of coffee already on the way.
Pull under the canopy
Connect to a fast charger. Clean energy is flowing directly from the solar panels overhead — no grid, no diesel, no apology. The sun powering your car is the same sun that roasted your coffee.
Step into the padstal
Clean toilet facilities. Fresh local produce. Baking, crafts and goods from the surrounding community. At least 70% of what's on the shelf was sourced within a stone's throw of where you're standing.
Roasted on site, this morning
At the counter, you'll find a König small-batch roaster running right there in the padstal. Your beans were roasted today, in this building. Espresso, cappuccino, americano — bean-to-cup, exactly the way our city customers drink it.
Back on the road
Your car is charged. You are too. The coffee machine didn't touch Eskom. Neither did your espresso. Welcome to the new South African road trip.
Java
Reserve.
The exact bean roasted on site at every CHARGE padstal.
This isn't a roadside compromise. Java Reserve is König's flagship blend — the same beans we ship to five-star hotels and the country's best independent guesthouses. For CHARGE, we ship them green and roast them at the padstal that morning.
It is the cup we are proudest to put in front of you. A coffee that performs every time — regardless of which padstal you happen to be standing in.
International Taste Challenge
at every CHARGE padstal
Off-grid coffee, at the padstal.
Want to know more about coffee at CHARGE stations?
Whether you're a padstal owner about to join the CHARGE network, an EV driver curious about what's brewing, or simply a coffee lover who wants to stay close to the story — we'd love to hear from you.
Cape Town Roastery
Unit 1, Northern Park, 11 Lenie Adams Avenue, Richwood
021 951 1277
Johannesburg Roastery
Unit 6, 4 Herman Pieters Rd, Hughes, Boksburg
011 823 2070
Find a CHARGE station
Download the CHARGE app. No app, no charge.
charge.co.za
Tell us where you'd like the story to go next.
Leave your details and a member of the König team will be in touch — no spam, no hard sell, just good coffee conversation.