Kahawa ya tangawizi — Swahili coffee with ginger and cardamom
A strong black coffee infused with ginger and cardamom, served very hot in tiny handleless cups (unsweetened or barely sweetened), also sold by street vendors from a copper pot.
A strong black coffee infused with ginger and cardamom, served very hot in tiny handleless cups (unsweetened or barely sweetened), also sold by street vendors from a copper pot.
Sit down for a moment on the baraza, one does not refuse kahawa. The vendor pours it piping hot, in a long stream, into a tiny cup that you return at once for the next — for it is company that counts, not quantity. I put in pounded ginger and cardamom, in the coastal way, and believe me: it was there, between two bitter sips, that an old man of Lamu recited to me verses of a tendi I had been seeking for months.
- •Finely ground coffee (dark roast) — in proportion (base)
- •Fresh pounded ginger — a piece (signature spice)
- •Cardamom — a few seeds (fragrance)
- •Water — as needed (infusion)
Kahawa ya tangawizi — Swahili coffee with ginger and cardamom
A strong black coffee infused with ginger and cardamom, served very hot in tiny handleless cups (unsweetened or barely sweetened), also sold by street vendors from a copper pot.
Why this dish? It was on the baraza, over a small cup of spiced coffee, that conversations were woven and the elders recited poems; Allen, a patient scholar, spent countless hours on those benches listening and jotting in his field notebook.
Sit down for a moment on the baraza, one does not refuse kahawa. The vendor pours it piping hot, in a long stream, into a tiny cup that you return at once for the next — for it is company that counts, not quantity. I put in pounded ginger and cardamom, in the coastal way, and believe me: it was there, between two bitter sips, that an old man of Lamu recited to me verses of a tendi I had been seeking for months.
Ingredients (period version)
- Finely ground coffee (dark roast) — in proportion (base)
- Fresh pounded ginger — a piece (signature spice)
- Cardamom — a few seeds (fragrance)
- Water — as needed (infusion)
Ingredients
- Finely ground coffee or espresso — 4 tbsp (base)
- Fresh ginger — 1 piece 3 cm, grated (spice)
- Green cardamom — 4 pods, crushed (fragrance)
- Water — 600 ml (infusion)
- Sugar — optional, to taste (sweetness)
Method
- Bring water to a simmer with ginger and crushed cardamom; let infuse 5 min.
- Add ground coffee, bring to a gentle boil once or twice without letting it overflow.
- Let settle so the grounds sink to the bottom.
- Pour slowly, without the grounds, into very small cups; serve very hot, unsweetened or barely.
How it was made : Coffee vendors (wachuuzi wa kahawa) walked the alleys of Stone Town with a conical copper coffee pot (dalla) kept warm on a small charcoal brazier, and a basket of tiny cups they clinked to announce their arrival.
The contemporary twist : Served in espresso cups on a copper tray, accompanied by a cube of Zanzibar halua — a nod to the baraza at home.
Sources : Documented traditions of kahawa and baraza in Zanzibar (Stone Town)
J.W.T. Allen · Charactorium
