Café Touba
Black coffee infused with Selim pepper (djar) and sometimes cloves, giving it a warm bitterness and a unique peppery-woody aroma. Served very sweet, in small glasses.
Black coffee infused with Selim pepper (djar) and sometimes cloves, giving it a warm bitterness and a unique peppery-woody aroma. Served very sweet, in small glasses.
When the night stretches on and words are slow to come, I prepare a café Touba. It is not ordinary coffee: the roasted beans are married to djar, that Selim pepper with a woody and smoky taste, which warms the throat differently from chili. The street vendors in Dakar pour it from high up, in a foamy stream, to make it sing. Well sweetened, it keeps your mind alert and loosens the tongue — and believe me, for holding a conversation until dawn or finishing a stubborn chapter, there is no better companion.
- •Roasted green coffee — a handful (base)
- •Selim pepper (djar) — a few pods (signature spice)
- •Cloves — a few (spice)
- •Sugar — generous (sweetness)
Café Touba
Black coffee infused with Selim pepper (djar) and sometimes cloves, giving it a warm bitterness and a unique peppery-woody aroma. Served very sweet, in small glasses.
Why this dish? Spiced coffee emblematic of Senegal, linked to the Mouride brotherhood of Touba, drunk on the street corner as at home to accompany conversation. For a writer, it is the drink of working nights and long discussions — the brew that keeps the mind and speech awake.
When the night stretches on and words are slow to come, I prepare a café Touba. It is not ordinary coffee: the roasted beans are married to djar, that Selim pepper with a woody and smoky taste, which warms the throat differently from chili. The street vendors in Dakar pour it from high up, in a foamy stream, to make it sing. Well sweetened, it keeps your mind alert and loosens the tongue — and believe me, for holding a conversation until dawn or finishing a stubborn chapter, there is no better companion.
Ingredients (period version)
- Roasted green coffee — a handful (base)
- Selim pepper (djar) — a few pods (signature spice)
- Cloves — a few (spice)
- Sugar — generous (sweetness)
Ingredients
- Ground coffee (dark roast) — 4 tbsp (base)
- Selim pepper (djar / Guinea pepper) — 4-5 pods ground (signature spice)
- Cloves — 2-3 (spice)
- Sugar — to taste, generous (sweetness)
- Water — 60 cl (infusion)
Method
- Briefly dry-roast the Selim pepper pods, then grind with a little coffee.
- Mix ground coffee, ground Selim pepper and ground cloves.
- Pour simmering water over the mixture and let steep for a few minutes.
- Filter finely (coffee filter or cloth), ideally pouring from a height to create foam.
- Sweeten generously and serve very hot in small glasses.
How it was made : Café Touba owes its name and recipe to Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride brotherhood at the turn of the 20th century, who is said to have combined coffee with Selim pepper. Traditionally, the beans and spices were pounded together in a mortar, infused, then filtered through a cloth, and the coffee has been sold on the street at all hours ever since.
The contemporary twist : Served iced over ice cubes with a cloud of condensed milk, "cold brew Touba" style from trendy Dakar cafés.
Aminata Sow Fall · Charactorium