We’ve seen all sorts of food trucks and mobile cafes over the years. There’s arguably nothing quite like this one, though: Kombi Brew’s beautiful orange Volkswagen Kombi.
This classic bus—aptly named Kahel—has been converted into a full-on coffee shop on wheels. Kombi Brew serves all sorts of caffeinated beverages straight out of the van, from its signature Kahel Brew to its quirky Change Oil drink.
OTHER STORIES YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK OUT:
Look: Mobile coffee shop uses motorbike to bring brews to customers
This family’s overlanding-ready Nissan Terra doubles as a pop-up coffee shop
But what makes Kombi Brew’s bus even cooler is the story behind it. We got to have a quick chat with the owner Budz—a pretty cool gearhead herself—and she told us that the Kombi was like a family heirloom. It was bought brand-new in 1973 by her grandfather, and it remained with their family ever since.
A few decades down the line, when her grandfather passed away, Budz and her father decided to have the Kombi restored. The project began in 2012, and one of the biggest jobs it entailed was to have the engine rebored and the cylinders remade by a machine shop. That wasn’t the only challenge—getting the right parts for the Kombi also proved very difficult. We reckon all this needed a lot of hard work and even more luck.
Budz shared that her father also passed away in 2014, but she decided to push through with the restoration project. At this point, the engine was already up and running, so a huge chunk of the work had already been done. After a few more years of tinkering and cleaning up, the Kombi was transformed into the Kahel that we see today.
One of these days, we’ll get up close and personal with Kahel and see all the contraptions this bad boy has inside. You see, Budz is quite proud of how all Kombi Brew’s equipment is stored inside the bus. That will have to wait, though—for now, you can just check out these photos of some of the shop’s products as well as its gigs around the metro.
