Bean There, Tried That.

I Gave It a Go: The Review | October 2026 | 6 min read

By: Natasha Fracchiolla, WeWork Inside Correspondent

One of 15 new Carimali machines now installed across WeWork South Africa. Photograph by WeWork.

Of course, I did what any under-caffeinated inside correspondent would do. I drank the evidence.

There are certain things you can get wrong in an office — like the temperature, the soap dispensers, the playlist. Also, whether Gary from Finance really needed to "reply all" (eye roll!). Things like this can quickly disappoint the employee's workday. But the office coffee should not be one of them.

It appears WeWork South Africa got the memo on this, obviously sent by WeWork's CCO (Chief Coffee Officer) himself, Stefano Migliore. Stefano tells me he's been obsessing over coffee since he was 16, when he worked a coffee stand at Johannesburg's Rand Show. He could have become South Africa's next coffee king. Instead, he became a lawyer (read the live interview here).

As WeWork's very own resident coffee fanatic, Stefano stands beat on Deck 3 — and I stand in awe next to him — whilst we watch Importalia roll in the last of 15 smokin' hot, state-of-the-art Carimali coffee machines into WeWork The Link in Rosebank, WeWork 155 West Street Sandton and WeWork Strand Street, Cape Town.

And inside those machines? Oh, but wait: Kimbo (screams internally!). The original coffee brand born in Naples, where coffee isn't so much a beverage as it is a cultural institution. This is a first-of-its-kind coffee investment across WeWork's local flexible workspaces — and it's pretty epic.

As a self-confessed and recovering office employee myself, I know office coffee has historically asked very little of us. Corporate South Africa will bring us a bare minimum cup of whatever, most of the time, and we've got used to it — secretly always wishing for more! But for the love of beans, nobody (nooobody) was expecting Naples. And yet, here we are.

Naturally, I gave it a go. Several times.

First impressions: so, there is a Coffee Heaven!

Literally, WeWork Members are queuing as I write this. The new machines come from Carimali, an Italian professional coffee-machine manufacturer whose roots go all the way back to Milan in 1919. More than a century later, the company produces both traditional and fully automatic professional machines, with its headquarters and main production operation now based in the Bergamo area.

Inside these vaults of vooma, is Kimbo. A coffee brand founded by Naples' Rubino brothers in the 1960s, and today synonymous with Neapolitan coffee culture around the world.

It's quite the Italian romance if you will, at WeWork. Carimali brings the machinery. Kimbo brings the beans, and WeWork brings community and connection to every coffee moment. Bellissimo, ragazzi!

Why all the fuss over coffee? This is a co-work.

Is it though? I mean, to be honest, since we reviewed the indomitable Deck 4, my impressions of a co-work have dramatically changed. I'm quickly second guessing what a co-work currently is, and what, in fact, it should be.

WeWork South Africa is no doubt setting a new industry benchmark in the flexible workspace arena, and — as I casually eye out a barista-blessed butterscotch coffee, being served at the IRL Coffee Bar to Ms Olona Tywabi, formidable Communications Manager of the Trevor Noah Foundation — I'm thinking to myself, gurrrl, you have arrived!

I asked Stefano why.

Why the coffee, why the special machinery, why the huge investment in something that was only ever meant to appease the yawns in every boardroom?

"Because this is not a coworking story anymore. It's about the evolution of work itself — and coffee culture plays a huge role."

"We're actually in the business of community and hospitality, which means our coffee becomes an integral part of the workday experience. It's the catalyst to a connected conversation with a stranger, with a teammate, with a potential new client," says Stefano, CEO of WeWork South Africa.

Understood. I can see how in a shared workspace like WeWork, the coffee machine may be one of the hardest-working networking tools in the building. Besides, these are coffees that compete with your high street brews that significantly dent your budget.

Coffee is free all day for All Access, Dedicated Desk and Private Office members. Photograph by WeWork.

The Good. The Not So Good. And an Italian who knows his beans.

Every respectable I Gave It a Go review requires some investigative journalism. So, here it is. The honest, no holds barred segment of my own, café a la WeWork experience.

The good stuff

The Coffee: You can't go wrong with Kimbo. From Naples, with love. So much love — I promise.

The Machines: Cool touchscreens. Funky nozzles. Pressure for days and foam that seriously makes store-bought coffee look dead to me. Carimali is like the O.G of coffee tech. And while I cannot confirm that an Italian engineer would weep with joy watching me make a flat white, these snazzy machines certainly make the process reassuringly easy to pull off.

Cool to know: Each Carimali machine has been configured and customised with recipes specifically designed around Kimbo beans. This means your espresso, cappuccino or macchiato isn't simply coming out of a generic office machine setting. It has been tasted, debated and carefully formulated.

The Milk: Don't get me started! We're talking about a barista milk range from Zarmi Foods, sourced from an award-winning Jersey herd. I know… it's too much.

Coffee Democracy: The rollout is for everyone. No coffee hierarchy exists here, with 15 machines across three buildings, and on every floor.

It's F.R.E.E: Yes! Read that again. When you're a WeWork All Access, Dedicated Desk or Private Office Member your coffee is free. All day, all ways.

Spoilt for choice: Espresso? Cappuccino? Coffee and Milk? There is something wonderfully grown-up about walking out of a meeting, pressing a button and producing something that resembles the actual coffee you want, rather than hot brown regret.

Human Connection: Just watch what happens around an office coffee machine. People pause. They wait. They look up. They talk. It's impossibly beautiful to witness. In the age of headphones and smartphones, that's worth something.

The not-so-good stuff

The Queue remains the Queue (sorry, friend!): Yes, you will probably wait a bit. Unless you take advantage of WeWork's 24-hour access benefit: pulling the red-eye and graveyard shifts? 15 machines, all yours, babe.

Pro tip: If the wait gets too long, head for one of WeWork's live coffee stations instead. The Stef Special just ranked as the highest order on the menu! Thanks for the tip, Lee! (as in Lee Loffstadt of Veolia Africa)

Expect to become Judge Judy: Coffee snobbery is not becoming on anyone, least of all Naledi in HR. But chances are you may begin judging coffee everywhere you go. This is an unfortunate side effect of upgrading your standards. Again, sorry.

Work-From-Home WILL lose its shine: When you know that you have a place to go where bottomless coffee is not only unbeatably delicious, it's also free all day long, staying home to complete the company white paper just doesn't hit the same anymore.

The office opinion: we asked Themba.

Themba Dube, WeWork South Africa's Digital Marketing Lead, spends enough time inside these buildings to understand both the brand and the caffeine habits of the WeWork Members inhabiting them. We wanted to know his honest opinion on the new rig.

Fifteen new machines. Which one do you think will be the most overworked?

Honestly, probably whichever one is closest to the busiest floor. We'll soon find out!

How does Kimbo compare to the Honduras Coffee Roast?

They're different, but I think that's part of what makes the rollout interesting. The Honduras roast has its own thing going, but with Kimbo you get that stronger Italian coffee character.

I also really like that you can choose the strength of your coffee. Some days you want something strong enough to bring you back to life, and other days you just want a coffee to get on with your morning.

Will these new machines eventually replace WeWork's human baristas?

No chance! The machines can make the coffee, but they can't replace the people and the experience around it.

What have members actually been saying about the new coffee?

I wouldn't say everyone is suddenly having deep coffee conversations in the kitchen, but there's definitely a lot of curiosity around it. I think the ability to choose your coffee and adjust the strength is a big win.

Your personal favourite coffee shot?

I'm still a cappuccino guy. But I'm also enjoying having the choice now. If I'm being completely honest, I'm probably going to use this as an excuse to try everything on the menu.

Give us a fun fast fact that would blow our minds right now?

The numbers! Last year WeWork members drank just short of 7 tons of coffee beans, and over 72 000 litres of milk!

The final verdict

We love. And we think there's something rather smart about this particular investment. It doesn't just say you're working with the best; it says: you deserve the best!

And that, in itself, is enough to reframe the entrepreneur's workday constitution.