Kenyans have been left with a bad taste in the mouth (no pun intended) after watching a viral video of ‘kahawa’ hawkers using rather unconventional methods to prepare the day’s stock.
From the undated video already doing rounds online, three unidentified men are seen huddled at a corner in what appears to be a shantytown, busy preparing what appears to be coffee – but by using their bare hands to mix up the dark beverage.
As one man, dressed in a red t-shirt and dark pants smokes what appears to be a joint, two other men crouch over the cooking pot as they take turns in either pouring more ‘kahawa’ into the cooking pot or stirring it using their bare hands.
The third man, who is partially hidden by a bunch of clothing left outside to dry, is seen constantly stirring the pot using his bare hands before briefly bringing his hand up to his face, shocking the onlookers busy recording.
Towards the end of the video, the man initially seen smoking bends over to pour some more beverage from a brown thermos into the cooking pot – there are a total of five thermos flasks lying around.
The group of people watching it all while at the same time recording were left in disbelief, unable to comprehend the nature of Kahawa normally sold to unsuspecting Kenyans around the Nairobi estates.
“Anaosha nayo uso?” the male voice says.
Once it hit the internet, the video left thousands of Kenyans equally astonished, with many vowing to never again buy a pint of coffee from the city hawkers.
“I understand poverty breaks you down, but what I don’t understand is knowingly endangering the health and welfare of your fellow countrymen just to make some money…” one X user commented.
Another one said, “This is why, despite how much I empathize with these vendors, I hardly buy/ eat their food. In this category, factor in smokey, mayai pasua and samosa merchants. No offense to them though…”
On his part, user Joseph Kiilu hilariously said, “Unashindwa mbona kahawa inaslap hivyo kumbe ni secret ingredients (laugh emoji)”
While it has been long established that most of these Kahawa hawkers are actually from some of our neighbouring countries, we could not independently verify the nationalities of the individuals recorded in this particular video.
One cup of this type of street coffee is sold for as little as Ksh. 10. It’s normally served in a small, white disposable cups.
