Thirsty Thursdays: Zanzibar Coffee in Arusha, Tanzania

Drinking coffee in Africa is something you have to do. The amount of coffee grown and produced on this continent is phenomenal. While staying in Arusha, on a quiet morning it was coffee time. I’m one who loves to relax over a coffee, sometimes reading a book or just enjoying the views with my girlfriend, as we did in Little Likeng in China.

Thanks to Natasa Fras, a Slovenian lady who now resides in Tanzania, we were taken for morning coffee after checking out the Kibowa Orphanage in Tanzania and Esa Primary School (reports on those two trips to follow at some point). So we headed to the Msumbi Coffee House in Arusha. It’s in a car park off one of the major roads through the city.

On arrival at Msumbi Coffee Shop, it became apparent that this was a speciality coffee shop. On the wall there was a map of coffees of the world, in the cafe itself was a coffee machine from Colombia and lots of information on coffee. Not to mention a load of references to the nearby countries that all produce coffee (Kenya, Somaliland (and Somalia) and Tanzania). I glanced at the menu…

Now what to order when in Tanzania at a coffee shop? Well it has to be Tanzanian coffee, so I did. I picked out the Zanzibar Coffee which seemed the most “local”.

According to the menu, Zanzibar Coffee contains cloves, cinnamon, black pepper and cardamon and would be spicy. Priced at 4,000 Tanzanian Shillings, so over $2 US but less than $3 US Dollars.

So my Zanzibar Coffee arrives. I add some sugar and get tasting it!! And yes it is spicy but it tastes great. Just what I needed! I was a bit knackered, as we all were from the previous few days of safari, probably just as well there’s only one photo of me on this post. Pretty tired looking!

Annette my fellow traveller from Bucket List Journey and Raymond from Man on the Lam also opted for Zanzibar Coffee and we just sat and relaxed taking it all in. I think Natasa (from Shadows of Africa) and Timo (our Safari Tour guide and driver) had a slightly more normal coffee. Well they live there, who could blame them. It’s always the tourists who try the local specialities and obscure products.

After enjoying the spicy coffee (the black pepper taste was prominent and apparent) I had a look around the shop. The Msumbi Coffee Shop itself sells coffee beans too of course as well as doing light snacks and other drinks. Here are a few more photos from my visit:

This was my last day in Tanzania and there will be more to follow on it. I had a wonderful time in the country on safari, visiting an orphanage and a local school. I was there as a Guest of Shadows of Africa.

A Video from Msumbi Coffee Shop, Arusha, Tanzania:

Thirsty Thursdays is an ongoing regular feature on Don’t Stop Living – a lifestyle of travel. If you have a bar, pub, drink, restaurant, brand or idea that you would like featured on Thirsty Thursdays, please get in touch via my contacts page or my advertising page. I’d love to hear from you, and I’d also love a complimentary coffee…