I spent a chunk of time sitting at roadside tea stands or a Café, sipping away a cup of hot beverage – sometimes two if I had a companion – and it was one of the most delightful activities during my years of traveling.
Not that I do this at all when I settled somewhere. It's a distinctly foreign land activity that many of us devote ourselves to. Since it tells us so much about a place and the daily life around it, it's the most benign and simplest way for me to draft my own views on unfamiliar territory. Fortunately, this abiding tea/coffee culture can be found in every corner of the world. In many of Mahfouz's novels, he goes so far as to have the same character open a new chapter by going into a café.
Not that I always agree with their choice of beverage. There is no negotiation, only acceptance, and I have developed the ability to deceive myself and quickly adapt to the taste. It takes a few visits to get the drink right, to practise and pick up the keywords, and eventually I'll place my order in the language as authentically as possible. Often, the same waiter or waitress will know what I want without any exchange of words due to my frequent visits. Many of them are very competent at dealing with people like me, although there are occasionally some exceptions.
There is always at least one place that will serve you a drink. Take the Cold Drink Café in Lake Turkana for example: it's the only place that provides the hospitality visitors expect. What you can get in this shack is staple food and some warm drinks. There is no fridge in this semi-desert town, so you will never find anything cold to drink here. But who cares? The place is full of tribesmen hanging around and it's utterly charming.
The man in the first picture always served me tea in the most efficient way. My tea was served within a minute of me taking my seat. Unlike the coffee ladies in Ethiopia, who first perform the whole ceremony — from toasting the beans to grinding them — before brewing them in a pot, these bunna ladies will make people enjoy the scent first by presenting it in front of their faces. This process is certainly worthwhile if you have never seen it before, but dash it, it didn't quite agree with my urge for caffeine in the morning. I need my coffee to be served as soon as possible when I go to the café.
I wonder if tea stands like this are still a common sight on Burmese streets today.
1) Yangon, Burma, March 2017
2) Lalibela, Ethiopia, September 2018