Est. 2017 · Garsfontein, Pretoria

Wild Cactus Café and Tea Garden logoWILD CACTUSCAFE & TEAGARDENEST. 2017

Wild Cactus Café and Tea Garden

Honest coffee, famous quiches and a quiet garden beneath the mulberry tree.

Find the caféSee the menu

The story

From a coffee van to a beacon of hope

Before the café, there was a calling. Gideon and Olivia Swart spent years as pastors, looking after people.

In 2019 they traded the pulpit for a coffee van, and started serving whoever stopped — no questions asked.

The van grew into a café on a quiet corner of Jacqueline Drive: corrugated iron, festoon bulbs, red chairs and all.

It never stopped being a ministry. It just learned to make a very good quiche.

The early Wild Cactus Café storefront painted bright green, with colourful tables on the pavement

The early days on Jacqueline Drive

Gideon Swart smiling behind the café counter beneath hanging festoon bulbs

Photo: Thom Pierce · The Actionists

“We started the coffee shop as a beacon of hope where everyone belongs — from the CEO to the homeless guy.”
Gideon Swart, founder

The tea garden

Under the mulberry tree

Seats by the road for watching Garsfontein go by, a corrugated-iron bar under the pergola, and a tea garden out back where the mulberry tree keeps the afternoon cool.

the pergola

red chairs on astroturf

the yellow Beetle on the wall

shade of the mulberry tree

Pay it forward

Buy a coffee. Leave it hanging.

Add an extra coffee to your bill and the baristas will hand it — at their own discretion — to someone who needs it. Nobody at Wild Cactus goes without.

Since the coffee-van days, anyone living on the street has been welcomed with a coffee and a chocolate croissant, no questions asked.

The café is also a donation point for Brave to Love, a nonprofit supporting survivors of human trafficking — blankets, toys and bedding are always welcome.

Word on the street

What regulars say

4.8

271 Google reviews

“Wonderlike atmosfeer. Goeie diens. Meer as billike pryse. Gesellige kuier. Heerlike koffie!”

“Wonderful atmosphere. Good service. More than fair prices. A lekker hangout. Delicious coffee!”

Nico Smit · Google review
“Calm atmosphere and lovely decor.”
Google review
“Very friendly staff and quick service.”
Google review
“Amazing food and beverages.”
Google review

Visit

Come sit a while

Hours

Monday – Friday
06:30 – 15:30
Saturday
08:00 – 14:00
Sunday
With family

Where

458 Jacqueline Dr, Garsfontein, Pretoria, 0042

081 308 8627
Get directionsFacebook