Cafe Touba: Senegal's Spiced Coffee

Cafe Touba is a spiced coffee from Senegal, made by roasting coffee beans together with grains of Selim (a peppery African spice called djar in Wolof) and sometimes cloves, then grinding and brewing the mix through a filter. It is usually served hot, strong and very sweet in small cups. Named after the holy city of Touba, the drink is closely linked to the Mouride Sufi brotherhood and its founder, Cheikh Amadou Bamba.

Here is the story behind cafe Touba, what grains of Selim taste like, and how to make a version at home.

What Is Cafe Touba?

At first sip, cafe Touba tastes like strong coffee with a warm, peppery, slightly resinous edge, somewhere between black pepper, nutmeg and eucalyptus, with a hint of clove when it is included. The spice is not an afterthought. Grains of Selim are roasted with the beans, so the flavors fuse during roasting rather than being stirred in later.

A commonly cited ratio is about 80% coffee to 20% djar by weight, though recipes vary. The ground mixture is brewed in a cloth or paper filter, similar to drip coffee, and sweetened generously.

Grains of Selim: The Signature Spice

Grains of Selim are the dried seed pods of Xylopia aethiopica, a tree native to West and Central Africa. The long, dark, knobbly pods are smoky and aromatic. They are known by many names:

• Djar (Wolof, Senegal)
• Grains of Selim or Selim pepper (English)
• Guinea pepper or kili pepper
• Kani pepper or Senegal pepper

Besides coffee, the spice appears in West African soups and spice blends. In the US, you can find it at African grocery stores and online spice shops. Do not confuse it with grains of paradise, a different West African spice.

History: Cheikh Amadou Bamba and the Mouride Brotherhood

Cafe Touba is tied to the Mouride brotherhood (Mouridiyya), a Sufi Islamic order founded in Senegal by Cheikh Amadou Bamba Mbacké in the late nineteenth century. Bamba also founded the city of Touba, which remains the brotherhood’s spiritual center.

French colonial authorities, wary of his growing following, sent Bamba into exile in Gabon in the 1890s. According to the commonly told history, the spiced coffee arrived in Senegal when he returned from that exile in 1902, and it has been associated with his followers ever since. Many accounts say Bamba used coffee as a drink that helped sustain long hours of prayer and study, and cafe Touba is still served at Mouride ceremonies and gatherings.

The biggest of those is the Grand Magal of Touba, an annual pilgrimage that commemorates Bamba’s departure into exile and draws huge crowds to the city. Cafe Touba is part of the hospitality offered there.

Cafe Touba in Everyday Senegal

What began as a drink of one religious community has become a national favorite enjoyed by people of all faiths. In Dakar and other cities, cafe Touba is sold from street carts and small stands, poured from kettles into small cups at all hours. It is also sold pre-roasted and ground in markets, and its popularity has spread to neighboring countries, especially Guinea-Bissau.

Part of its appeal is affordability. Locally roasted and blended coffee has long been a cheaper option than imported instant coffee brands, and the World Bank has linked the drink’s growth among lower-income households to the 2009 global recession.

How to Make Cafe Touba at Home

Few home cooks roast green coffee, so this method gets close by toasting the spice separately and grinding it with already roasted beans. It loses a little of the fused roasted character, but captures the flavor well.

Ingredients (about 4 small cups)

• 1/3 cup (about 30 g) dark-roast whole coffee beans
• About 1 tablespoon (7 to 8 g) grains of Selim pods, roughly 20% of the total weight
• 2 to 3 whole cloves (optional)
• 2 cups (475 ml) water just off the boil
• Sugar to taste: traditionally 1 to 2 teaspoons (4 to 8 g) per small cup

Method

1. Toast the grains of Selim and cloves in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, until fragrant and slightly darker. Let them cool.
2. Grind the spices together with the coffee beans to a medium-fine grind, as for drip coffee.
3. Place the mixture in a paper or cloth filter over a pot or carafe.
4. Pour the hot water slowly over the grounds in stages, letting it drip through.
5. For a stronger cup, pour the brewed coffee through the grounds a second time.
6. Sweeten to taste and serve hot in small cups.

Tips and variations: Start with 10 to 15% spice if you are unsure, then increase. Robusta-heavy coffee gives a bolder, more traditional bitterness; see Arabica vs Robusta for why. For an iced version, brew double strength and pour over ice with sweetened condensed milk.

Cafe Touba FAQ

What does cafe Touba taste like?

It tastes like strong, dark coffee with a peppery, smoky, slightly menthol-like spice note from grains of Selim. When cloves are added, there is a warm, sweet clove finish too. It is usually drunk very sweet.

Where can I buy grains of Selim in the US?

Look in African grocery stores or specialty spice shops online, where it may be sold as grains of Selim, Selim pepper, kili pepper or djar. Buy whole pods and grind them yourself for the best aroma.

Why is it called cafe Touba?

It is named after Touba, the holy city of the Mouride brotherhood in central Senegal. “Café Touba” is simply French for “Touba coffee.”

Does cafe Touba have more caffeine than regular coffee?

Not inherently. The spice itself does not add caffeine, and replacing some coffee with spice slightly reduces it per gram. Using Robusta-heavy beans, as many local blends do, would increase it.

Brew a Taste of Senegal

Cafe Touba shows how a single spice can transform coffee into something with its own identity and history. For a home version, choose a bold base like our high-caffeine Robusta from West Java or our dark French Roast made from African coffees, or explore more beans from the continent with our African Kahawa Blend. Every Feel Espresso coffee order is roasted 1 to 5 days before delivery, ready for your own spiced experiment.