Coffee-taking has become a religion in Nairobi. The coffee shop is the new cathedral where the city congregates as if for vespers (evening prayers).
By Eric Wamanji
Olootisati Ole Kamuaro takes a long sip of mocha, from a white porcelain mug, almost closing his eyes as if the fluid is divine. For the chairman of Friends of Nairobi National Park (FoNNap) coffee is his love, second perhaps, after fighting for animals.
Kamuaro is not alone. Coffee consumption is in vogue; the love of many Nairobians. And that is why the coffee shop is a part-time office, the academy of civility, sanctuary of romance (both lawful and illicit), the congress of socialites, and the public sphere for the state-critique.
This explains why in the evenings Nairobians religiously pay pilgrimage to their favourite coffee holes as if going for evensongs (evening prayers). And here, Nairobi guzzles thousands of coffee barrels in the latest eating-out trend that seem to dwarf the brown bottles.
“You don’t need to come to the office. We can discuss over coffee,” Kamuaro responded when we sought him for an interview about the “threatened park.”
We arrive at this coffee shop, on Ngong Road, at the ambush of a strong aroma amid the tinkling of cutlery and the gushing song of the espresso machine as it dispenses the coveted drink. It is a full house this of people blended and woven around the coffee mug.
“Coffee is the most popular beverage in our outlets,” says June Wambui, the Brand Manager of Nairobi Java House, a leading coffee shop in the city.
“But we can’t really say that people have started taking coffee; they did before. However, the game in the market has upped so that it is not only the drink that counts but the quality, the craftsmanship and the ambience,” she explains.
Still, other industry players report a remarkable increase in number of patrons in the past ten years. “It’s not the same. More people are taking coffee nowadays. They have discovered something trendy in it,” says Steve Ratemo, the Shop Manager at Dormans, The Junction branch.
According to Ratemo, you will be lucky to get a seat after 5:15 PM. A weeklong random spot-check of major coffee shops affirms Ratemo’s assertions. Indeed, never has coffee been treated with near-divinity as is today.
Coffee-taking has become a social activity. And in the city, the choice of a shop is a statement of polish. And this is the coffee artistry: the choice of brand, the location, the time, and even the companionship – are tale-tales of finesse or lack of it.
“I do coffee for various reasons,” says Kate Njambi, 27, a PR executive. ‘I take coffee to kill time because I don’t want to be stuck in traffic for ages in the evenings. I also meet and socialize over coffee; it’s ideal to meet friends and bitch…at times, the shops are just great for reading,” she says.
The great good place
In deed, it is anthropologist Ray Oldenberg, who wrote of the “great good place,”- where members of a community congregate for “the pleasure of easy company, conversation and sense of belonging.” And you have guessed it right; the coffee shop is one of the great good places. It is at the core of “integration and community vitality.”
And thus the dizzying rush for the steaming mug has become a phenomenon -a religion. Ask any semiotic expert. The coffee mug is an idol venerated, it is like a chalice; the coffee shop has become a cathedral; the barrister, the high priest; paying bills, akin to offerings; the waiter, ushers; the cacophony of chatter and clutter, speaking in tongues; the talk, confessions; and the drink, the wine…and perhaps bitings serves as Holy Communion!
That is why Njambi, effortlessly fits the fundamentalist bill. “You remove the coffee out of my life? I’ll fight that mad attempt,” she declares, stretches her hand and downs the last drop from her mug. “Waiter, more coffee please,” she orders; her friends giggle.
Coffee, well, can quench your crave for caffeine. But that is at the very primal threshold. Coffee stimulates talk and nourishes camaraderie. It is in this musings that people clinch deals, get employment, and are love struck. This way, today the tavern has lost her sheen as lair for wheel-dealing.
“True, I love coffee,” admits Halkano Haro, an office administrator at Continental House. “And I like it in coffee shops; that’s where I can meet people and discuss serious issues on a lighter note,” he jokes.
“Cappuccino is great; any time,” Haro says. “It’s a good comforter after a busy day’s work.” indeed, such is the comfort that the city’s nascent mid-class hunkers for. And this explains why, there’s going to be even a bigger explosion city coffee shops frothing in every nook and cranny of Nairobi.
Oh, coffee! One can rant on-and-on. It is why, perhaps, composer Johann Sabastian Bach went like this: “Ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter, far than muscatel wine!”
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