Naivasha Coffee House

Okay, so I know this week I was supposed to do another post on hotels but I felt this needed to be told. You know how there are those eateries and drinkeries (yeah I made it up…) hidden and nestled in various town in Kenya that you would swear your ancestors on, well I found one. Not really me, but rather my mother did.

We were driving down from the highlands (Eldoret) and as we approached Naivasha, I could see her getting very excited. As much as I do get carried away observing the zebras, antelopes and chimps beside the road, something in her voice got me yearning. She told me of this coffee place at Delamere that she always makes a point of stopping at. The sparkling of her eyes was electrifying; almost like when a kid gets a new toy and they want to show it off ….yeah, exactly.

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So we stop at the service station, and there it is. Now I know you might have been to Delamere several times but this joint is a gem. Beside the shops offering fruits, the restaurant with the sizzling nyama choma and the wines and spirits shop is the Naivasha Coffee house. Despite the famous rift valley dust and heat, this place is cool and kept meticulously clean. Keeping with the theme of a fast food place there are few tables and is open to the car park and just beside it is a view of the garden where all sorts of birds take a load off and chill (ahem! birdwatchers).

 

The sweet-Jesus scent of caramel (really not tying to blaspheme here) hits you with that wondrous inviting aroma of fresh coffee beans. It’s so soothing, like those hugs mama gave you when you hurt yourself playing. The staff is courteous, neat and very helpful. The rock inlay on the walls makes you feel like you should have brought a book along with a monocle as you take leisurely lustful sips. The serenity of it all is ironic, given the fact it’s only about a hundred or so meters off the highway.

Once you have selected your preferred coffee, it is brewed, no, created, steaming hot right as you wait. Not those ones where some chap walks up to your table and pours some desperate milk into your cup and hands you a sachet to finish yourself off; I mean a serious coffee maker that looks like it was developed by aliens in a sterile lab while wearing those funny chef hats and purple gloves. A machine that looks at you and you know it’s taking you home…let me not get ahead of myself here. There are of course, freshly baked edibles and as soon as the coffee’s done, there are neat little sugar packets for you to use based on your sweet tooth level. Note, that there are other beverages on the menu and not just coffee.

As we were on a time limit, we had ours served into those disposable styrofoam cups. I thought it would be just like an ordinary cup of coffee then it hit me. Like the songs of the angels it massaged my palate. Even though it was raining outside the car, the warm liquid heaven touched me to the core. It was like the reassuring hand telling you it would all be okay. It was like a cup of optimism. The worst bit of it all is when I realized I had drained it all. Arriving in Nairobi and all I could think of was that coffee and the tingly, special feeling it gave me inside. Mom looked at me and knew I’d found the one, after all, mama knows best, right?

I loved that sublime coffee, but my stomach loved in more. Naivasha Coffee House, I shall definitely be back.