COFFEE CULTURE

The best COFFEE HOUSES in Tanzania

When you’re on the move and after a quick pick-me-up there is plenty to be said for just grabbing some kahawa and kashata from a cycling street vendor. However, such traditional treats now have to compete with a modern coffee culture brewing in Tanzania. Cosy cafés are cropping up offering a choice of cappuccinos, machiatos, lattes and mochas and have become places to work, hang out with friends or just enjoy some ‘me’ time. Here’s Twiga’s best of the bunch.

Zanzibar Coffee House Zanzibar

The Utengule Coffee Estate at the foot of the Mbeya range in southern Tanzania has been producing world-leading coffee for more than a century. The brand’s franchise has expanded into hospitality with the acquisition of the Zanzibar Coffee House Hotel, an authentic Arabic house in the Spice Island’s historic Stone Town. The hotel’s eight rooms sit atop a bustling café, which, of course, serves a range of delicious coffee, harvested from sister farm Utengule, roasted on site, and expertly brewed.

Where: 64 Mkunazini, Stone Town, Zanzibar

When: Daily 8.30 am to 6.00 pm

Information: visit www.utengule.com / zanzibar-coffee-house

Union Café Moshi

If there was ever a group of people in need of a caffeine hit it has to be hikers about to take on Mount Kilimanjaro. Luckily, Moshi, the gateway to such altitudinal adventures has the Union Café. This stylish and vibrant place in the heart of town is a great place to swap stories while sipping on coffee grown on the slopes of Africa’s highest mountain by smallholder farmers and roasted on-site.

The farmers collectively sell their coffee through the Kilimanjaro Native Co-operative Union and if you enjoy your cuppa you can buy a bag of its 100 per cent Arabica beans to make some more at home.

Where: Corner of Old Arusha Road and Selous Avenue, Moshi

When: Daily 7am to 8.30 pm

The Ridge Café Mbeya

Mbeya is surrounded by high plateaus peppered with coffee bean farms and the Ridge Café is ideally placed to oversee the whole process from crop to cup. It has its pick of single-source 100 per cent Arabica beans grown by smallholders in the southern highlands then has them roasted to its own chosen profile in Mbeya. Its baristas are trained to world class standards with two Ridge Café representatives taking first and second place for latte art at last year’s African Fine Coffees Association, in Zanzibar, and there are plans to enter them into the upcoming East Africa Barista Championships. This all results in an amazing cup of coffee, however you like it, and such has been the Ridge Café’s success in Mbeya it has recently extended operations, opening a branch in Dar.

Where: Mbeya – 5 Lupa Way, Mbeya, Tanzania

Dar – 34 Bibi Titi Mohammed St. Raha Towers, Dar es Salaam

When: Mbeya – Monday to Friday 7.30am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 9pm, Sunday 9am to 2pm

Dar – Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm, Saturday 9am to 6pm, Sunday 9am to 2pm

Atom Coffee Dar es Salaam

This place, on the ground floor of Mikocheni’s Mayfair Plaza, takes coffee drinking to another level with a vibe that is part café, part science lab. When you choose your coffee you can also pick one of seven different brewing methods – all carried out by hand by its expert baristas – to ensure you get each subtle note from the top class beans from Kilimanjaro and around the world on offer here. It seems food is considered a distraction from appreciating the delicacy of your drink so none is available, but you can opt for an organic tea. There is also the chance to try out the café’s range of modern brewing gadgets and create your own brew from house beans or finesse your palate at weekend coffee cupping sessions.

Where: Mayfair Plaza, Mwai Kibaki, Dar es Salaam

When: Monday 7am to 8pm, Tuesday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday 9am to 9pm

Information: visit atomcoffee.co.tz

Atom images: Osse Greca Sinare

Maua Café Mbeya

To call Maua Café a coffee house is rather underselling it. This brick homestead-turned café 1.5 km outside Mbeya town centre offers daily hearty breakfasts and lunches and bookings-only three-course dinners on Fridays and Saturdays, a recently revamped gift shop selling handicrafts from five women’s groups and a local orphanage, paintings from Mbeya artists, shelves full of books to browse and a menagerie of resident animals, including horses that can be saddled up for rides on the surrounding trails. Still, the coffee warrants a special mention. The beans are sourced from the nearby family-run Lunji Coffee Farm at the foot of the Mbeya mountains where they have been growing coffee since the late 19th century. You’ll find a range of speciality coffees, including “yellow honey”, where the beans undergo a drying process designed to give notes of caramel, cream, lemon and raisin.

Where: Mwambenja Rd, Plot 5, Mbeya, Tanzania

When: Monday to Thursday 9am to 5-30pm, Friday 8am to 9pm, Saturday 8am to 5.30pm.

Information: @maua_cafe on Instagram