is a

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

beverage that is a popular traditional drink from

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

that is (more recently) also consumed in

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

, and is named for the city of

Touba, Senegal Touba (Hassaniya Arabic: , 'Felicity'; Wolof language, Wolof: Tuubaa) is a city in central Senegal, part of Diourbel Region and Mbacké district. With a population of 1,120,824 in 2023, it is the List of cities in Senegal, second most populated ...

. is a coffee drink that is flavored with

grains of Selim Grains of Selim are the seeds of a shrubby tree, '' Xylopia aethiopica'', found in Africa. The seeds have a musky flavor and are used as a spice in a manner similar to black pepper, and as a flavouring agent that defines , the dominant style of ...

or Guinea pepper (the dried fruit of the shrub '' Xylopia aethiopica'') (locally known as , in the

Wolof language Wolof ( ; , ) is a Niger–Congo language spoken by the Wolof people in much of the West African subregion of Senegambia that is split between the countries of Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, ...

) and sometimes

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...

s. The addition of , that is cultivated in

Touba Touba (Hassaniya Arabic: , 'Felicity'; Wolof: Tuubaa) is a city in central Senegal, part of Diourbel Region and Mbacké district. With a population of 1,120,824 in 2023, it is the second most populated Senegalese city after Dakar. It is the h ...

, is the important factor differentiating from plain coffee. The spices are mixed and roasted with coffee beans, then ground into a powder. The drink is prepared using a filter, in a manner similar to that used to prepare drip coffee.

History

( French for 'Touba coffee') is named for the city of

(

Hassaniya Arabic Hassaniya Arabic (; also known as , , , , and Maure) is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic spoken by Mauritanian Arabs, Malian Arabs and the Sahrawis. It was spoken by the Beni Ḥassān Bedouin tribes of Yemeni origin who extended their authority o ...

, 'Felicity'). The drink is traditionally consumed by the

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Mouride The Mouride brotherhood (, ''aṭ-Ṭarīqat al-Murīdiyyah'' or simply , ''al-Murīdiyyah'') is a large ''tariqa'' (Sufism, Sufi order) most prominent in Senegal and The Gambia with headquarters in the city of Touba, which is a holy city for t ...

brotherhood as it came to Senegal when the brotherhood's founder,

Sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

Amadou Bamba Mbacké, returned from exile in Gabon in 1902. The drink is served during ceremonies, commemorations, and during the Grand Magal of Touba.

Usage

The coffee-to- ratio is typically around 80 percent coffee to 20 percent . In recent years, consumption of has been increasing as the drink is spreading to cities of all faiths, both in and outside Senegal. The

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

wrote that a progressive elimination of imported coffee seems common in poorer areas of Senegal as a result of the global recession of 2009: a Senegalese restaurant owner stated, "We weren't used to the Tuba Coffee for breakfast, but since the crisis people drink it a lot, also children." Commercial export outside Senegal, while small, is present. In

, has become the country's most popular drink, even though it was relatively unknown several years ago. Consumption of increased to the point that sales of

instant coffee Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. The product was first invented in Inver ...

, most notably

Nescafé Nescafé is a brand of instant coffee sold by the multinational food and drink corporation Nestlé. It comes in many different forms. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestlé" and "café". Nestlé first introduced their flagship coffee br ...

, decreased in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. To more directly compete with ,

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

launched a product that contains spices, called Nescafé Ginger & Spice.

References

* Guèye, Cheikh, "Entre frontières économiques et frontières religieuses: Le café Touba recompose le territoire mouride"; in: Piermay, Jean-Luc; Cheikh, Sarr (eds.), ''La ville sénégalaise: Une invention aux frontières du monde'' (in French); Karthala, 2007, pp. 137–151. .

External links

"Café Touba: Une consommation très galopante'
''L'Office'' (in French), 7 September 2007.
"Le 'café Touba', un concurrent de taille à Nescafé'
''Le Soleil'' (in French), 26 September 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cafe Touba Coffee drinks Senegalese cuisine African cuisine Islam in Senegal Sufism in Africa

History

Usage

See also

References

External links