Hot, cold, or a cocktail, a cup of Happy Coffee is a best seller that is mixed to meet the peculiarity and demand of every customer. A cup of happy coffee is also a cup towards changing the market and industry for coffee farmers, vendors, and retail hubs and ensuring that Nigerian coffee sits at the table of global coffee players.
Photo credit: Aristomixx Multimedia Creating and giving happiness to a growing niche of coffee enthusiasts
In 2015, Ms. Tekenah, a recipient of the seed capital from Tony Elumelu Foundation tapped into the growing demand and forgotten industry of the beverage with the mission to transform Nigeria’s coffee narrative and at the same time, to alleviate the plight of coffee farmers and vendors especially with the country importing over 95% for its consumption.
Adeyinka Tekenah, CEO of Happy Coffee Nigeria, a leading brand in adding homegrown coffee to your lifestyle.
Princess Adeyinka Tekenah referred to by Financial Times as Nigeria’s Starbucks copycat is giving Nigerians a delightful coffee experience and placing Nigeria’s coffee culture on the map with her enterprise, Happy Coffee.
But navigating a start-up in the busy hub of Lagos is not all that simple, giving into consideration the unfavorable conditions and rising competitive market. Happy Coffee has continued to satisfy its customers and sustain the extensive network of coffee enthusiasts by making use of locally sourced coffee, which not only adds to the richness of the brand but also gives customers a chance to participate in the Nigerian coffee transformative narrative.
Coffee is one of the many gold mines that is grown locally, and HCN is committed to showing the world.
This indigenous brand of beverage is gradually becoming a must-have accessory in different Nigerian scenes such as corporate gatherings, literary/art festivals, offices, and homes while creating and giving happiness with their visual happy emoticon.
With Happy Coffee, a personal narrative is essential as each Happy Coffee vendor and sip leaves you with more than just a taste. In her words;
Coffee is a fantastic gift that lends itself to dynamic dimensions. I believe the human mind is exceptionally diverse, hence progressive in its relationship to creating and designing great social experience. That’s what coffee does to you.
To get a discount off your next purchase, CLICK HERE .
The #EatDrinkFestival Abuja edition is the second event that That Green Tea experienced in a more official capacity thanks to the EDL team. The first coverage, #EatDrinkLagos can be found here
James Beard once said that food is our common ground, a universal experience (for everyone because we all eat) and this was brought to life at the Eat Drink Festival held in Abuja for the first time after being hosted in Lagos for the past five years. The event which saw the coming together of food vendors, mixologists, chefs, food enthusiasts, and bloggers had something for everyone who came to Harrow Park with an empty stomach and a full appetite.
#EatDrinkAbuja
Most vendors familiar with the Abuja festival spirit would say that “Abuja people come out late,” which they did. But few hours into the festival, crowds were gathering, holding conversations, and dancing to the music while the vendors were doing their very best, from setting up their stand to organizing their wares in the most eye-catching manner to make sure that everything went on smoothly in their stall. An interesting concept which most of them employed was the switching up of things with their menus.
Press pass gang ( gang gang )
While Waffle Stop stuck to something simple to give people an easier going and fun experience, Jaka’s Grill who has been playing out the dare of owning a food business for the past five month, used the opportunity to up his game by launching a full menu with new and exotic additions like extra delicious burgers which are so cute you could eat them whole.
We love a good flat lay. We love a food flat lay even better
For lovers of a sweet tooth, Buttercream Abuja brought their best sellers and most popular indulgence; my favorite was the banana bread which literary breaks down into several pieces of joy as you chew. Legal Tender Cocktails lived up to its name, a lawyer owned business, it gave us the sunny side up of things with drinks like a Beauty & The Beet, Mojito, Glow Up which were100% non alcoholicand geared towards freshness, a healthy lifestyle, and tremendous benefits for your skin all at very affordable prices.
The interesting about the festival for me, apart from the cook-off, Chef Punshak’s demo, karaoke, and virtual reality pods was the cashless policy of the event.
Thanks to the introduction of wristbands, where all your monies are stored up, vendors and customers were saved the stress of exchanging of currencies, standing in queues and worst of all, looking for change! (We know how stressful that can be).
How far can your love of food take you? The answer is very far because it was surprising to see that some vendors such as Korede Spaghetti, Ette’s Barbeque came all the way from Lagos and boy, did they leave their mark. Korede, a photographer and dancer who when forced with the dilemma of having to choose between three passions, chose the stove, gave the attendees, spicy hot spaghetti and his special; Korede ponmo ( for you non-Nigerians, this is cow skin. Yes. Cow skin. Keep it pushing) sauce which came with a side of fresh fries.
Ette’s Barbeque would give the feel of home with roasted items such as plantain popularly known as Boli and yam in extra spicy sauce.
Everyone can say that they had fun in the event, mainly because there was something for everyone who showed up. If you wanted alcohol, there was the Crazy People’s Cocktails or Entrees Cocktails that came in pineapple or extreme colorful mixtures. If you wished for sugar and more sweetness, Ice Pops which sold out by the way and Yougurberry was your go-to stall.
Of course, there is no Nigerian event without the signature Jollof rice, which thanks to Corperate Jollof, wore a tie and pretty good shoes with its original taste and flavor. Pow, a PanAsian restaurant gave us a feel of what it meant to have intercontinental dishes such as Pow special fried rice which contained eggs and Szechuan chicken, which was spicy.
Not only did the festival allow people to network, but it also created the perfect ambiance for friends, loved ones, and families who needed a place to unwind and chill. Most attendees testified that they didn’t expect the festival to be so all out and they look forward to the next one, I know I do.
All images were captured with permission by Shade Olaoye for the blog and are therefore the property of That Green Tea.
All vendors mentioned are welcome to post this on their respective media channels.
For any enquires and collaborations, email us at contact@thatgreentea.com
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Expressing one’s artistic autonomy is no easy task. Here are a couple queer individuals who, within their respective fields, are paving the way for self-expression and creative individualism. Chance Allen Chance Allen is a junior Journalism and Media Studies double major at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He began taking pictures in his junior year… Read more
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For starters, it is crucial to introduce Dike Chukwumerijie for those who are not familiar with the name. He is one of Nigeria’s leading performance poet and the founder and creative director of NSW (Night of the Spoken Word) Simply Poetry which uniquely uses performance poetry; interacting with a live audience.
Dike Chukwumerijie, Nigerian Poet
NSW debuted in 2013 and has since, ran through to recent times incorporating other major shows as it goes on like the, Made in Nigeria (MIN), Let’s Be Honest, Man Made Gods and other shows which help Nigerians mark special periods.
My first contact with Dike happened three years after his debut of the NSW show when a mentor purchased for me his book, Urichindere and a compact disc of his just-concluded NSW show which was held in Abuja.
Made in Nigeria, a NSW Production
Reading Urichindere, a book narrating the growth of a boy to man stunned me into realizing how stories are told differently. At the time, I graduated secondary school, and I could connect with the joys and fear of Urichindere as he went through his. Extensively, the book captured so much, ranging from the experiences that come with being a broader, a teenager in those politically uncertain times, a secondary school lover, and a child birthed by typical Nigerian parents.
As I read the book, I would laugh, cry and, snap my fingers when something hits home. I remember posting soon after, that it should be included in the reading syllabus for all secondary schools, I still hold that feeling. As for the disc, it cracked after too much playing. Dike would come on stage, tell stories with poetry, all the while, having either dancers who would interpret his words with their movements or a guitarist who would create sounds.
There was always something that accompanied his acts, there was joy, there was a pain, there were strong emotions I could not contain, and I knew I had to be part of this.
And the opportunity came, in my first year at the university when Joy, a member of the team contacted me to help create awareness for the MIN show he was bringing to Enugu. The experience was a dream, I distributed flyers, ran radio ads, spread the word on social media and the day of the event, I handled the press.
I remember having goosebumps so many times during the show as Dike burnt “102 years of Nigeria’s history to 120 minutes”, with poetry. He took us through the military regime, the 80s, 90s, and the present. Through the civil war, told stories of love lost and gained, gave us narratives of what it meant to study abroad as at that time. As he did all these, he made us cry, reflect and laugh. I shook, and as I fixed the phone on him, taking pictures, making videos and quoting him for social media, I knew my dedication and loyalty was stamped.
Perhaps these are the first things I learned from Dike, how to be utterly committed because the joy in your heart leaves you full. Over the years, whenever I was free from school, I would readily volunteer to be part of any show that held at that period be it in Abuja, Enugu or Lagos. If my physical presence was not possible, I would offer my resources offline, sharing, posting and spreading the word because I believe in Dike, I believe every Nigerian should experience him more than once.
From the show, I would learn how important it is to tell our stories, not necessarily the big ones that make it to the history books but the small ones too; about a mothers love, a boys dream, a fathers nature or a girls passion. I would learn that every story mattered and that no one person had the monopoly of experience; we are all connected. That is why you would shake your head or snap your fingers as you listen because something has just hit home.
Through Dike, I would learn values, that goodness in heart and spirit is the most important of all. Because positive ideal and love are sufficient enough to hold us, that meritocracy is what we should all gun for not nepotism, tribalism or godfatherism.
It would constantly resound that to see the change you want to happen; you have to become it. A clear example of this, is the fact that Dike has never subscribed to the norm “African time,” his four is precise, never earlier or later and if there is just one person seated, in his words, “I give my 100 percent to that one person.”
The entire organization is proof that consistency helps you build sustainability. How one meeting after another, held no matter what can create a well-knit community of the most reliable and trustworthy persons. Evidently as a creative in Nigeria, finding a community is essential. Noncreatives included, it is always special to be with people who hear your language, listen to your thoughts and help you project your crazy ideas. Simply Poetry is one of such communities.
The whole process uplifts my spirit, makes me understand that things can be better because I know 15-20 people who are all ripple effects trying to be better. And when each show ends, when we are all climaxed and overwhelmed, it is time to press repeat and do it over again.
Look out for my posts every (other) Wednesdays and follow me on IG: @shade_mary_ann_olaoye
Home is and will continue to be important in the lives of people. The definition of home has always varied. Primarily, it is where you live with people you call family, who share the same lineage and blood as you. The meaning of the term family is quite simple; it is people you love and who loves you in return. As humans, we are never entirely confined in a place; we move, travel and seek. It is through this journey that we make for ourselves home with people whom we aren’t necessarily related to by blood, but by something ordinary and just as deep. Being a creative, finding a community is just as important especially if you are new to a place. To find like minds open to conversation and learning can be a bliss. And this is what the students at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka have seen for themselves.
The Writers Community, TWC as it is popularly called started in 2008 and it is an enriching community for writers who wish to learn, be in conversations they would otherwise not have with their fellow students, and mostly, exist as what they are, creatives. The community holds its meeting every Friday, where the Custodian (President), who runs for a session, spearheads the conference. It usually opens with pleasantries, discussions on a particular topic from a previous meeting, and the core of it all, submission of works by any member to be reviewed by everyone.
These honest reviews gear towards making a better writer out of everyone as discussions ensue, questions asked, and the learning wheel is left spinning. In moderating this, the Custodian shares copies of the workaround which will be read by the writer, and later criticized constructively by members who have opinions about the piece. In the acknowledgment that art and creativity are vast, there are no limitations to the kinds of work that can be submitted ranging from poetry, prose, essays, fiction, non-fiction, plays, art or whatever it is your mind comes up. Afterward, the best submissions are compiled and shared with everyone via the TWC boards located in the Faculty of Arts.
Apart from these weekly meetings, the community also organizes workshops where established writers come to teach and equip members. The guest for the last seminar was JK Anowe, a poet. For fun, the community holds its end of the year Discuss Night where members circle a bonfire, eat, drink, play games and of course, read more works. It also partners with other platforms within the school to create readings and performance night which are open to all students. The community is as essential as it is for every writer who wishes to grow and can serve as a solid foundation as it has for its ancestors like Otosirieze Obi-Young, Arizne Ifekandu, Benson David, Ebenezer Agu and many more.
Shade Mary-Ann Olaoye is a final year student of Mass Communication at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She is passionate about writing and engages with multiple campus organizations and local societies to reinforce and promote her love of growing into a creative.
Shade makes her debut as a blog intern for That Green Tea.
That Green Tea 