Archive for September, 2009
Nairobi Java House… in Nairobi
Nairobi Java House Cup, originally uploaded by andai. For a while know, I have been really, really eager to check out Nairobi's coffee culture and the opportunity arose this past month of August. The day after I landed in Nairobi (I landed at night so I had to wait till the next morning) I headed out to Yaya Centre, Nairobi's second mall, for some espresso. I chose to go there since the Yaya was relatively close to where I was staying and I knew I would have the choice of at least two coffeehouses, Dormans and Nairobi Java House. This is where would have my first ever Nairobi espresso culture experience. The initial idea was to go check out Dormans Coffeehouse, but then I discovered that Dormans was operating an espresso stand within the center court area, while Nairobi Java House actually had a proper retail space, so I decided that I would try out Nairobi Java House instead and save Dormans at a later time. I thought it would be nice to sit in the closed retail space as opposed to the open courtyard [...]
Dormans & Nairobi Java House Offerings at the Kenyan International Airports
Dormans, originally uploaded by andai. When traveling in and out of the airports in Nairobi and Mombasa, you quickly realize that Dormans seems to be the default coffee being served at the cafés or snack bars at the domestic terminals at the airport. Actually, from many of the food establishments around the country actually serve Dormans coffee. Although these cafés, both at the Nairobi and at the Mombasa airport seem to have the same branding and sign-age, there is no indication that Dormans actually own or run them. It is clear however that Dormans supplies all their coffee/espresso offerings and at least one of the folks working behind the counter was wearing the Dormans t-shirts. It was my assumption that he was a Dormans employee... but that is any an assumption on my part. So there I was, waiting for my flight from Nairobi to Mombasa. I thought I'd get a latte from the little snack place and see how it stacks up to the what you'd get at the regular Dormans retail outlets. It turns out, that the [...]
Douwe Egberts: Espresso Offerings in Schiphol Airport Part II
Douwe Egberts at Schiphol, originally uploaded by andai. 5:30 in the morning. That's pretty early by any standards... and once again I find myself at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, this time however, a brief stopover on my way back to the US. This is also the time I figured would be as good as any to get a Douwe Egberts coffee or espresso and see if my feelings about the coffee at Schiphol Airport would change from my previous experience. So I go to one of the numerous 'Grabandfly' stands that you'll find all over the airport and I order a my drink. The lady who made the coffee did not do the barista thing i.e. pull any espresso shots. Rather, she simply pushed a couple of buttons and stuck the coffee cup under the spout and waited while the automated coffee machine did its thing. This was the one thing I noticed at this airport, that no matter which coffee/concession stand you go to, they all use the automated coffee machines... which I guess is ok for those who want that consistency regardless of where [...]
Segafredo Zanetti: Espresso Offerings in Schiphol Airport Part I
Segafredo Zanetti, originally uploaded by andai. OK I am not even going to beat around the bush. I have to say that the first time round, I found that the espresso offerings at Schiphol Airport were rather disappointing. It all started in Seattle on my flight from Seattle to Nairobi via Amsterdam. I grabbed a quick latte at the Seattle's Best Coffee just before I boarded the plane... and I will tell you, that was a pretty bad latte I was served. This was about half past noon when I bought that latte and as bad as it was, I drunk it because I had not yet had anything to eat (or drink) that morning. My only consolation, while drinking the latte, was that at Schiphol Amsterdam airport I would surely be able to get a much, much better cup of coffee than the one I was drinking. And certainly better than the coffee they would serve on the plane during the trip. Boy was I wrong! So I noticed that there were quite a number of coffee stands all over the airport and they were mainly from two coffee companies, [...]