Skip to content

Zanzibar coffee (kahawa)

Strong black coffee boiled with cardamom and ginger

Kahawa is the strong, spiced black coffee poured from brass pots on the streets of Stone Town: freshly ground coffee boiled with cardamom pods and finished with ginger and ground cardamom. It's bitter-sweet and aromatic. Serve hot in small kahawa cups.
Total time
22 min
Difficulty
easy
Serves
10
One step at a time, big text, timers, read-aloud. Your screen stays on.

Ingredients

Serves10
  • 6 ¼ cups water6 cups
  • 6 cardamom podslightly crushed
  • 6 tsp coffeefreshly ground
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cardamom
  • 5 tsp sugaror to taste

Shop this recipe on Amazon

Fresh ingredients (1)

Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.

Method

0/4 done
  1. Step 1: Boil 6 ¼ cups water with 6 cardamom pods for 10 minutes.

    10 min
  2. Step 2: Add 6 tsp coffee and boil for another 5 minutes.

    5 min
  3. Step 3: Add 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cardamom and 5 tsp sugar and boil for 5 minutes.

    5 min
  4. Step 4: Let the grounds settle for a minute, then pour and serve hot in kahawa cups.

Nutrition per serving

Calories
12 kcal
Protein
0 g
Carbs
3 g
Fat
0 g
Fibre
0 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

K
Recipe by

KrazyBadal

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does zanzibar coffee (kahawa) take?
About 22 minutes in total: 2 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
How many people does it serve?
10 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
Is it vegan?
Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
Is it gluten free?
Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
What can I use instead of ground ginger?
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger per ¼ tsp ground.
What can I use instead of sugar?
Caster sugar, same amount.

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.

Rate this recipe

Sign in to rate and review this recipe.

Power packApple, pear, kiwi and celery juice

A sweet, energising juice of apples, pears and kiwi fruit with a stick of celery, all used unpeeled for extra goodness. It's naturally sweet, so it needs no sugar. Serve well chilled.

10 minDrinksVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 1 views

Guava delightGuava, mango and banana drink

A thick, fragrant blend of ripe guava, mango and banana, boosted with a spoonful of guava powder from the health shop. The book calls it a modern-day vitality drink, drawing on guava's long use in traditional Indian medicine. Serve it well chilled; sieve it if you don't like the little guava seeds.

10 minDrinksVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 1 views

PingadoHot milk with coffee

Order 'um pingado' at the balcão of any São Paulo padaria at 7 in the morning and the attendant pours hot milk into a ridged glass tumbler (the copo americano) and 'drips' in a splash of strong coffee, hence the name. It is milkier and gentler than a média (half coffee, half milk), creamy and lightly sweet, usually drunk standing up with a pão na chapa, a toasted buttered roll. At home you need strong filter coffee and milk heated until steaming. Scalding the milk is the frequent mistake, as boiled milk tastes flat and forms a skin. Chef's tip: froth the hot milk for a few seconds with a whisk or by pouring it back and forth between two jugs before adding the coffee, as padaria machines do.

by KrazyBadal 1 views