Serving tea for 33 years

A fixture at the Forodhani night market for more than three decades, Babu Chai never runs out of tea and coffee.

The menu, printed out and laminated, contains only three items: spice tea, ginger tea, and coffee. They do come in two different sizes though – in large mugs or in small paper cups. Babu Chai sells the trademark Zanzibar hot beverage for TZS 1,000 (small) and TZS 2,000 (large), with or without condensed milk, with or without sugar and optionally with caramel flavour. And that for 33 years, seven days a week.

Hailing from Msanga, a village near Dar es Salaam, he hardly remembers how he first got to Zanzibar. A friend had said “let’s go to that island,” when the market opened and the very first tourists appeared on the shore. Babu Chai never left Zanzibar again. His real name, says the 65-year-old father of three and grandfather of seven, “doesn’t matter”. What has always mattered is, “that I could make a living of my tea and coffee shop”, he adds shyly. He lives with his family in the Michenzani flats, once donated to Zanzibar by the East German government. Meanwhile, Babu Chai, who never went to school, has become joyfully stubborn just like a typical Zanzibari: 100 percent set in his mind, highly sceptical of questions (why do we want to interview him) but eventually granting us a charming smile with missing front teeth.

The fee for his little tea stall at the night market is TZS 7,000 (less than three dollars) a month. On a good day he sells 30 cups, the water boiling in a big kettle on a gas stove, on a bad day three. But there are no bad days for Baby Chai: “I’m happy about any customer, no matter where from”, he says in Swahili. Regulars are invited to take place on a wobbly wooden bench while sipping the spicy hot drink, a good treat against colds. Iliki (cardamom) and cinnamon are a must, Babu Chai says. He stays at the market every day until at least 10 pm. Unless he falls asleep.

Babu Chai

Forodhani market, Stone Town every day from 5 pm