Great tea and fast internet put Leaf n Bean in a class of its own
Mr Imran Shamsher (right), Leaf n Bean manager, and an employee at the restaurant’s tea bar in Parklands in Nairobi. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- If, perchance, you are a download diehard, then Leaf n Bean gives you a glimpse of what a digital nirvana would look like, offering one of the fastest internet connection south of the River Rwaka and north of the Globe Cinema Overpass. Yet, this is not Leaf n Bean’s claim to fame.
- Curiously, Leaf n Bean is a quiet, peaceful and discreet place, a Desiderata hideaway, so to speak, compared to the noise and haste at the fruit market just a few paces away, or the city centre a little further on.
If you get what I mean, Leaf n Bean sits like a blouse pocket in front of what is arguably Kenya’s most curiously named supermarket — On The Way.
Of course, there are many Leaf and Bean restaurants across the whole wide world but the branch on Limuru Road is the only one of its kind in Kenya.
Besides its wide variety of teas, hot chocolates and coffees, one of its other unsung attractions is its rather fast wi-fi.
If, perchance, you are a download diehard, then Leaf n Bean gives you a glimpse of what a digital nirvana would look like, offering one of the fastest internet connection south of the River Rwaka and north of the Globe Cinema Overpass. Yet, this is not Leaf n Bean’s claim to fame. Nor is it the solid wooden lounge seats and bar stools that gives the place its warmth.
The dimly-lit restaurant is arguably one of the most secretive homes of specialty teas. You can take yours with or without sugar, with honey or syrup, with ginger, cinnamon or other fruity additives from nature.
That is not to say you will be turned away if you ask for coffee or hot chocolate. Indeed, so wide is the offering that one can take away some leaves to brew their own teas at home, complete with instructions that include how long and at what temperature they should be boiled.
Driving from the city centre, there is no way you can miss it. It is the only outlet on the right side of Limuru Road that has a purple signage, itself a rare thing in Kenya.
However, to get there, one has to drive past the increasingly chaotic City Park fruit and vegetables market which has been spilling more and more of its customers onto the road ever since the stalls were destroyed by a fire on February 5.
Curiously, Leaf n Bean is a quiet, peaceful and discreet place, a Desiderata hideaway, so to speak, compared to the noise and haste at the fruit market just a few paces away, or the city centre a little further on.
Mr Henry Kioko, the manager, laments that Kenya exports its best tea. To give its Kenyan patrons a taste of what they have been missing, Leaf n Bean imports some of its tea from Scotland.
