With limited job opportunities, especially after the pandemic, local entrepreneurs are skipping the cost and hassle of a formal space and creating micro-cafe’s to attract passersby for a quick and affordable brew.
SIP & SAVOR
REACHING FOR A CUPPA IN NORTH AFRICAIn this North African nation, coffee and tea are central to daily life and social culture. Often strong and served black, they have traditionally been enjoyed in cafes, but affordable street-level ingenuity is creating a shift. Come explore what we found.
Abandoned and broken down autos have become a favorite for repurposing into car cafes. Though not mobile, they’re street side and ready to serve. With a little borrowed electricity via extension cord, rope lights announce their location and allow kettles to boil for tea and cezves to heat for Turkish coffee. Many of the car cafes operate without formal business permits, meaning the vendors sometimes face confiscation of equipment or challenges to move along.
Fine sand that has been heated in a wide, shallow pan is the perfect bed in which to place a cezve (the long handled cup). The sand is meant to envelop the cezve and provide even heating to the Turkish coffee brewing inside. When a thick foam darkens and rises to the top of the cezve, the coffee is ready to serve.
If you had your tea delivered from a local tea shop, you can just leave the cups outside when you’re finished. As part of the informal, communal nature of life in this city, they’ll be retrieved in the morning and washed for re-use. It keeps costs low and makes tea drinking more accessible to people in this urban environment.
My wife would want to stop here everyday! A plywood countertop has been fashioned to fit over the interior of the car providing ample space for car cafe offerings. It’s a pretty sweet setup but I think the owner missed an opportunity to have business in the back and seating in the front!
If a brick and mortar cafe is more your speed, this fellow has you covered. There’s a stash of mint for tea, plenty of propane for coffee making, and all manner of hardware to support his craft including grinders, sieves, teapots, glasses and cezves – the long handled metal pots that Turkish coffee is made in. Notice the dark patch on his forehead? Marks like this are called “sadja marks”, developed over time due to frequent prostration during Islamic daily prayers.
Mint has been grown in this country for centuries due to its medicinal and aromatic properties. It’s been used for digestive issues, stomach ailments and for flavor in cooking. In the 19th century, mint tea became a popular way of combining the medicinal properties of mint with the strong taste of black tea. I’d venture to say its medicinal benefits have been largely forgotten and it’s now simply a popular cultural icon.
Honestly I was a little surprised by this scene! Based on prior visits to the region I was expecting tables of men to be smoking shisha, playing dominos, and chatting away. It seems that smartphones are having an impact on tea shop culture! Perhaps they were all just checking the score on an import football match.
Milk tea isn’t traditional here, but has been gaining popularity in recent years, especially in the big cities. While there is a long-standing tea culture, milk tea, especially the bubble tea kind is a new trend that’s catching on. That said, it’s still not as widely spread as more traditional drinks.
Unglazed clay water jugs are simple vessels that have been used for generations to store and cool drinking water. The clay allows a tiny amount of water to seep through the walls; as that water evaporates, it cools the interior, keeping the remaining water relatively cool even in high heat and without electricity.
Although the local water supply is treated and meets local safety standards, the quality can change due to aging infrastructure, leaks and potential contamination in pipes and tanks. I noticed the local tea and coffee shops I visited using bottled water, rather than filling up from the tap – fine by me! In one part of the city where recycling was the primary business, bundles of compressed water bottles highlighted these choices.
Just outside a mosque in a busy market district a man offered cups of water to passersby. Giving water is considered a highly virtuous act in Islam, described as one of the simplest and most rewarding forms of charity.
When we passed near the oldest cafe in the region, stopping for tea was a given. It’s been a social hub for centuries, founded around 1797 and operated continuously by the same family.
Have a mobile but no coffee? Want it to come to you? Delivery to the rescue. I saw motorbikes with the bright orange carry cubes on the back in every corner of the city. Evidently they’ll bring you groceries, snacks, meals from restaurants and your favorite drink from local cafes.
Like your caffeine cold and from a bottle? I’m not sure when Coca-Cola came to the region but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that branded convenience stores were in nearly every neighborhood.
REFLECTION
Cafes can play an impactful role in sharing the Gospel. While they are primarily spaces for socializing, eating, and drinking, depending on security considerations they can also provide a relaxed and open atmosphere that makes them great venues for conversations about faith. In many cultures, meeting at a cafe is just an easy, non-threatening way to hang out. This relaxed environment opens the door for genuine conversation outside the pressure of a formal setting like a church service. And since the Gospel is best shared in relationships, cafes can allow for one-on-one or small group conversations that can build trust and understanding. I’ve heard the phrase “it takes three cups of tea for someone to come to faith”. The first is as a stranger. The second is as a friend and the third is as family. The number is inconsequential, it’s simply emphasizing relationship over religion. I wonder how many people’s faith journey began with a cup of tea.
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