The African continent has a deep connection with coffee, from the JAVA café in Nairobi, Kenya, to the traditional coffee ceremonies of Ethiopia; every cup carries unique regional charm and human stories. This article takes you into Africa's coffee moments, visiting coffee gardens near Nairobi such as Karen, Rusty Nail, Kate Mary, and Whistling Thorns, to experience the romance of sipping coffee amid savanna sunsets. At the same time, we will encounter the world's oldest coffee etiquette and recommend Front Street Coffee's African beans, so you can recreate this sense of ritual at home.
The most precious gift this land of Africa has given me is teaching me this: no matter when or where, I can sit peacefully and quietly enjoy the richness of a cup of coffee.
JAVA and Friday Coffee
The liveliest café in Nairobi is JAVA. At first I thought the name came from that programming language, but after checking the dictionary I learned that JAVA is actually slang for coffee in American English. A large cup of coffee of the day is only 70 shillings (about 7 RMB), a cappuccino is served in a bowl-shaped cup for 150 shillings, and my particular favorite is the macchiato. The true flavor of coffee can only be understood by those who have personally tasted African coffee.
The JAVA closest to me is on Ngong Road, a ten-minute drive or about half an hour on foot. Going to JAVA at noon, queuing is commonplace. Sometimes I watch the barista make coffee while casually buying a bag of freshly ground beans, and I even get a free cup of coffee of the day.
JAVA's appeal lies not only in its authentic coffee but also in its British-style pastries and service. Waiters wear the shop's own T-shirts printed with a map of Africa and the JAVA logo as they weave through the crowd. In Africa, waiters are a happy group of people; they greet guests cheerfully from time to time, and some humorous young men can always make everyone laugh. They truly love their work.
Many afternoons were spent at JAVA—reading an English novel, or sitting on a bench chatting with Guo'er, occasionally slipping next door to the little bead shop to talk with the beautiful girl Jane. Jane once worked at the Kenyan embassy in China for four years, can speak simple Chinese, and her English is excellent. Her job is to look after this DIY jewelry shop for an Indian designer, and in her spare time she strings beads and makes bracelets herself. Jane lives happily, loves her current job, and dreams of one day owning her own little shop.
JAVA has a branch in the city and another near the Friday Market, both doing equally brisk business. The Friday Market is located farther away near UN-Habitat and is also called the Maasai Market; it opens only on weekends and sells Maasai tribal goods. Interestingly, I later fell in love with the coffee at a café next to the market and felt it almost surpassed JAVA, making it arguably the best in Nairobi. Unfortunately, I did not remember the shop's name, so I have always referred to it as "Friday Coffee."
Watching the Sunset at Whistling Thorns
Many beautiful coffee gardens are scattered around the outskirts of Nairobi, with equally lovely names: "Karen Coffee Garden," "Rusty Nail," "Kate Mary," "Whistling Thorns," "Windsor Club," and so on. Each garden has its own unique scenery and fine coffee, and only those with a discerning eye can taste the lingering, timeless charm of a countryside coffee garden.
Karen Garden is the former residence of a Danish woman named Karen, who was the author of Out of Africa. After Karen left Africa, she left a large residence and coffee plantation to her Black female housekeeper. After changing hands several times, an American female architect bought the former residence and spent six months transforming it into Karen Coffee Garden.
Today Karen Garden is a gathering place for white people in Nairobi, with the city's best local band and fashionable parties. Many tourists skip high-end hotels in the city and stay directly at the Lodge within the garden. These independent wooden cabins are scattered deep within the garden. At night, waiters light fires in the fireplaces, scatter fresh flowers across the white bed sheets, and bring seasonal fruit. The fireplace in one corner of the café terrace also crackles to life.
Windsor Club
The open lawn is the best place to enjoy coffee. Compared with sipping under the eaves, tasting coffee in the sunlight brings more joy to the soul. Sometimes people walk barefoot on the grass like children, going to get napkins printed with elephant footprints, or slipping over to the small grocery store beside them to pick out exquisite African objects. The waitress Susan and the grocery store clerk Auria both became my friends; if I did not go for a while, they would exclaim that my hair had grown longer again and that my new clothes were really beautiful.
The owner of Rusty Nail is a plump Englishwoman; her tall figure, explosive curly hair, and hearty laughter give her vitality all over. Enjoying her cheerful greetings is an appetizing dessert for us at Rusty Nail. Rusty Nail serves various "Rusty Nail specials," such as "Green Nail," "Nail Sunset," and "Nail Memory," which often got Guo'er, who is not good at drinking but loves to drink, drunk again and again.
Compared with the open and bright Karen, Rusty Nail is small and exquisite. The café is built on high ground, with scattered vegetation, neatly trimmed "Ninefold Pavilion" flowering trees, and beyond the fence a not-small horse riding area. Sometimes a huge tent suddenly goes up in the garden, and cheers burst out from inside—that is a group of men gathered together watching English football.
A "stolen" Eden of ours is Kate Mary, located in the mountains near a tea plantation. It is a private club that also offers accommodation. Lily of the valley planted at the entrance climbs all over the roof, with golden flowers hanging down and swaying gently in the wind. Looking down from the small hillside, a shallow stream naturally separates the coffee garden from the tea plantation and cornfields outside. A swing is placed in the garden, collecting the laughter of many children.
Whistling Thorns Coffee Garden is a pearl scattered on the savanna. Looking out, there is vast grassland and scattered flat-topped thorn trees, and lucky people have even seen giraffes slowly walking in the distance. During the year, the savanna is golden for half the time and lush green for half the time. At the end of the grassland are the rolling Ngong Hills, as if five fingers are spread out caressing this superb scenery in the heart of the city. Watching the savanna sunset at Whistling Thorns is my and Guo'er's dream.
Encountering the World's Oldest Coffee Etiquette
Ethiopia is the hometown of coffee. When we returned to China in 2004, Guo'er and I first flew to Ethiopia and stayed for many days in the capital, Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa means "City of Flowers," and the travel brochure says: "This city lets you enjoy 13 months of sunshine a year." Breakfast in Addis Ababa is enchanting. As a lazy person who never had the habit of eating breakfast, every day after being awakened by the dazzling sunlight, I would drag Guo'er to the small café across from the hotel for breakfast. The mark left by Italian colonization is reflected in this café: a very European name, freshly squeezed juice, freshly baked croissants, and incomparable coffee. Throughout the morning, the café is packed. After going twice, beautiful young Ethiopians would smile and greet us like acquaintances. Enjoying a quiet, long brunch here became half the theme of our life in Addis Ababa.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
