My overriding review of Kaldi Africa is that everyone needs to visit. As Lagos in recent years adopted restaurant and dining out culture, cafés exploded in every corner though coffee roasteries have remained few. There are currently only two coffee roasteries in Lagos. Mai Shayi Coffee is one and Kaldi Africa is the other. Check out my previous post about Mai Shayi Coffee.
Kaldi Africa is located inside Nigerian Foundries in Ilupeju. My first thought when I walked into the café was wow! what a cute place with African inspired decor. I very much loved the decor of the café.
I did some background research before visiting and was very excited to try their specialty coffees. Unfortunately, the server that attended to me at first told me all coffee brews were unavailable which then encouraged me to settle for a dirty chai latte.
While enjoying my latte, I struck a conversation with one of the coffee machine engineers and asked him for reasons why the coffee brews were unavailable. He then apologised on behalf of the server and told me that the specialty brew machines were sent off for repairs but I could have a Buna coffee (Ethiopian traditional coffee) which didn’t require any special machines to be prepared.
In comparison to the dirty chai latte, the texture of the Buna was very smooth, it felt more like high quality tea than coffee.
I also ordered for Grilled Chicken with Chips (very reasonably priced) and enjoyed every single bite.
I observed that the menu I was given had greatly changed from the one I previously saw online. This new menu was very trimmed and featured regular grub compared to Ethiopian-centric dishes of the old menu
Here’s me enjoying my Buna complete with sweet smelling incense 👇🏾
Kaldi Africa also offers tours of the Coffee Roastery, complete with lunch and a coffee tasting session. The full package tour is ₦25,000, this also includes a Glass Blowing session at Kaldi’s sister company called Igo Glass. Igo glass makes use of recycled glass to create different types of glass products. Click here for my post about my visit to their glass souvenir shop.
I briefly met Dr Nasra Ali, she’s one of the co-founders of Kaldi Africa, a medical doctor formerly with W.H.O (World Health Organisation) and is now a full blown entrepreneur. Kaldi coffee is available in big chain supermarkets across the country as well as in duty free shops at the airpots. You can also buy their products in the café or order online
Kaldi Africa is not just a coffee shop/roastery. They also provide barista training and sell/repair coffee machines. I’m excited for the future of this African company and cannot wait to hear about their increasing successes in future.
Until next time from your top guide in fine living.
Love,
Nwaanyi Ije
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