Haya Amwani (Chewed Coffee)
Amwani, the Haya people’s coffee from northwest Tanzania: Robusta cherries boiled with herbs, smoked and chewed, used in greetings, royal tributes and rituals.
Contents
What is amwani coffee?
Amwani is the traditional coffee of the Haya people of northwest Tanzania, around Bukoba. Rather than brewing it, they boiled Robusta coffee cherries with herbs, smoked or steamed them, and chewed them as a stimulant. Amwani was used in formal greetings, tributes to kings and rituals, and growing it needed royal permission.
At a glance
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Origin
- Tanzania
Method
Pick the cherries
Pick Robusta coffee cherries; one account says unripe, another says ripe.
Boil with herbs
Boil the whole cherries with herbs.
Smoke or steam
Smoke the mixture for several days, or steam it with herbs, until it keeps.
Chew
Chew the prepared cherries whole, slowly, as a stimulant or when greeting guests.
Amwani is coffee as the Haya people of northwest Tanzania knew it long before anyone there brewed a cup: Robusta coffee cherries, boiled with herbs, smoked or steamed, and chewed. It wasn’t an everyday drink but a prestige crop, used in formal greetings, tributes to kings and religious rituals, and so valuable that growing it needed royal permission and the beans served as currency. Here’s what the sources tell us about how it was prepared and what it meant. This is a historical tradition, mostly recorded through oral history.
The short version
- Robusta cherries boiled with herbs, then smoked or steamed.
- Chewed, not brewed, as a stimulant.
- From the Haya people of today’s Kagera region, around Bukoba.
- A royal crop: for greetings, tributes and rituals, and used as currency.
- Changed by German colonial rule from 1911.
How was amwani prepared?
The sources agree on the outline, boiling, then smoking or steaming, then chewing, but differ in the details:
| Sucafina | Wikipedia | |
|---|---|---|
| Coffee | Unripe Robusta cherries | Robusta beans |
| First step | Boiled with herbs | Boiled |
| Second step | The mixture smoked for several days | Steamed with various herbs |
| How it was eaten | Chewed whole | Chewed as a stimulant |
- Pick the cherries. Robusta, the amwani variety; Sucafina says they were picked unripe.
- Boil them with herbs.
- Smoke or steam them, for several days in Sucafina’s account.
- Chew the prepared cherries slowly.
We haven’t found a source giving quantities, herbs or exact times, which isn’t surprising for a tradition passed down by word of mouth.
What did amwani mean to the Haya?
A gift of status. According to Sucafina, amwani “was included in formal greetings, tributes to royals and religious rituals”. Coffee use was “so ritualistic that anyone needed authorization from the royals to be able to grow coffee”, which kept supply tight and value high.
A currency. Wikipedia, citing a Carleton College study, adds that the beans were used as a form of currency, and that growing them was “highly controlled by tribal leaders”.
An Ethiopian origin. Both sources say, from oral history, that the Haya brought coffee to the region from Ethiopia (Abyssinia) in the 16th century, and that coffee “was not really brewed in the region but was used as a stimulant”. Wikipedia notes that the Haya were the only recorded people in the region to use the beans.
What happened to amwani?
Colonial rule changed it. Wikipedia says that in 1911, German colonists required Arabica to be planted throughout the Bukoba region, and introduced laws that weakened the chiefs’ control over coffee. Sucafina explains the aim: to push the Haya into the cash economy. As coffee became common, the Haya lost the wealth that came with their monopoly. Under British rule after the First World War, Wikipedia adds, the Haya continued to resist, and coffee in the northwest stayed stagnant while Kilimanjaro’s Chagga growers expanded.
Today, Wikipedia says, Tanzania’s Robusta is grown mainly in Kagera region, in the Kyerwa and Karagwe areas.
Chewing coffee around Lake Victoria
The Haya weren’t alone. Across the lake in Uganda, the Baganda also chew coffee. Uganda’s Daily Monitor, citing James W. Maina’s 1955 book Coffee in Buganda, describes cherries picked just before they’re ripe, steamed and then smoke-dried, and offered to visitors to chew, a habit linked to the Baganda blood-brotherhood ritual, in which two men exchanged coffee beans moistened with each other’s blood. The Monitor says chewing coffee was recorded in the time of explorer John Speke in the 1860s, and that “when a visitor arrives, they are often given some coffee to chew” to this day.
Historical information only. Coffee cherries are a stimulant, so chewing them delivers caffeine like any coffee.
Amwani vs other methods
- Buna qalaa: Ethiopia’s coffee beans fried in butter and eaten.
- Kuti (coffee leaf tea): a drink from the coffee plant’s leaves.
- Yemeni qishr: a drink from coffee husks.
- Kahawa chungu: the spiced coffee of Tanzania and Kenya’s coast.
Explore every boiled method in the boiled chapter.
Words in this guide
- Robusta
- Robusta is the common name for Coffea canephora, one of the two coffee species grown for most of the world's coffee; the other is arabica.
Questions & answers
Who are the Haya?
A people of northwest Tanzania, in today's Kagera region on the western shore of Lake Victoria, around the town of Bukoba.
Did the Haya drink coffee?
Traditionally, no. Wikipedia says coffee "was not really brewed in the region but was used as a stimulant": the cherries were boiled, steamed or smoked with herbs, and chewed.
Where did Haya coffee come from?
Oral history says the Haya brought coffee from Ethiopia (Abyssinia) in the 16th century. The variety, amwani, was Robusta.
Why was amwani important?
It was a prestige crop. Sucafina says it featured in formal greetings, tributes to royals and religious rituals, and that growing it needed royal authorisation. Wikipedia adds that the beans were used as a form of currency.
Do other peoples chew coffee?
Yes. Across Lake Victoria in Uganda, the Baganda offer visitors coffee cherries to chew, picked just before ripe, steamed and smoke-dried. The Daily Monitor says the habit was recorded by John Speke in the 1860s.
Sources
- Coffee production in Tanzania. Wikipedia
- How much do you know about Tanzania’s coffee industry?. Sucafina
- Buganda’s love affair with coffee. Daily Monitor (Uganda)
General guidance only. Not medical, food-safety or professional advice. Always follow your equipment's own instructions.