Tangier’s coffeehouse culture: 5 iconic spots

Tangier has been the playground of creative open-minded souls since the 1950s. The city and especially the old medina ooze spirituality and mysticism. These elements attracted numerous artists, writers and performers over the past century, including Paul Bowles and William Burroughs. They, like Moroccan writers, Mohammed Mrabet and Mohammed Choukri, found inspiration for their most important works in Tangier’s historic cafes.

Coffee culture is an important part of daily life in Tangier. From early dawn until late at night, the cafes are crowded, mainly by men who spend hours there with one simple espresso or café noir.

Tangier’s medina is full of historic coffee and tea houses where time has stood still and the memoirs of national and international creative minds still seem to wander.

Café Tingis

You can hardly avoid it, having a coffee on petit socco or socco chico, the most iconic square in the heart of Tangier’s medina. In the early 20th century, famous writers found their way to the lively epicenter of espionage. The many extraordinary scenes set there were the inspiration for their most important works.

On the corner of petit socco, the shade-filled terrace of Cafe Tingis, overlooking the bustling square, invites you for a drink. Cafe Tingis is a well known place in Tangier. The coffee house was named after the Roman city (Tingis) founded by the Phoenicians in the 6th century BC. This makes Tangier the second oldest city in Morocco (after Larache). Café Tingis is located on the exact spot where the Phoenicians and later the Punics built the Roman Forum.

On warm spring evenings you can often find me there with a notebook and a café nosnos. People watching with tea and acquaintances around you is the norm there for the locals and we too still find this one of the most fun free activities in Morocco!

Address: Petit Socco/Rue Almohades, Tangier

Café Baba

Hidden in the maze of the medina’s whitewashed alleys, I step inside Café Baba. One of the places on earth that earned its fame from the hordes of celebrities who passed by, not from what is served.

It is really not the little nameplate that leads you inside Café Baba, but rather the smell of Moroccan mint tea and Moroccan weed.

Behind the coffee machine is Abdelghani, owner of this iconic cafe where Rolling Stone Keith Richards “got stoned.” He inherited the business from his grandfather, who opened Café Baba in 1943.

With only coffee and tea on the menu of the soberly decorated cafe, you would almost wonder what makes this place so popular, especially with locals. All these doubts fade away when you sit down in the reddish-brown leather chairs and take time to take in the surroundings. Groups of young people hang out there for hours smoking marijuana undisturbed. Moroccan teenage girls also feel welcome at Café Baba to light up a joint, which is not the case in many other places in the medina.

Most young people are completely unaware of which celebrities, including Kofi Annan, were served here before them. For the locals, Café Baba is simply their favorite place to get high to the tones of African reggae music.

Numerous foreign investors knocked on Adbelghani’s door with the aim of buying Cafe Baba for a lot of money. And while this business with only cheap coffee and tea on the menu certainly won’t make him a fortune, Café Baba, his grandfather’s legacy, is far too close to his heart.

Address: Rue Zaitouni, Tangier

Cafes Porto Rico

Near Tangier’s covered fish market, the ever-friendly Brahim stands behind the counter of the tiny coffee roastery “Porto Rico. Roasting coffee beans and then grinding them into a perfect blend is an art in itself, but at Porto Rico they go one step further. The city’s locals stop by for a fresh blend of finely ground coffee beans and their favorite spices, including cinnamon, pepper, star anise and ginger. This particular herbal coffee or spiced coffee is a real delicacy that completely outclasses a simple cup of black coffee.

TIP: Taste the “spiced coffee” from roastery Porto Rico on the spot and take home half a kilo of this special blend. The coffee is best when prepared at home in a moka pot.

Address: Rue de la Plage, Tangier

Café Makina

Café Makina, the hidden gem among Tangier’s historic tea houses and one of the few places in the medina with a sea view.

Café Makina is a renowned name in the city and an important place from childhood of many Tanjawis who grew up in the neighborhood. Before the major road connecting Cap Malabata in the east and Cap Spartel in the west was built, Café Makina was the gateway to one of the most popular city beaches. Residents of the medina received permission from the owner of the teahouse to open the door of his business themselves in order to reach the beach early in the morning.

For many Tanjawis, coffee houses are important meeting places where they spend hours musing about life and its difficulties with acquaintances or strangers.

Café Makina is also such a place. The view of Spain, which is barely 14 kilometers from Tangier, makes many young people dream about a better life and a future in Europe.

Many residents of the medina chased this dream and emigrated illegally to Spain by sea. Although there are certainly a number of success stories reaching the streets of Tangier about neighbors, cousins or acquaintances who built a completely new life in Europe, this dream also ends badly for many. Many Tanjawis were sent back, arrested or even died at sea.

Yet building a new life in Europe remains the goal of many and Café Makina is already a silent witness to the many plans that are being made to cross the Strait of Gibraltar in a clandestine manner.

Address: Rue Bouhacem, Tangier

Café Hafa

Located on a steep cliff next to the tombs of the Phoenicians, lies the controversial Café Hafa. Paul Bowles, William Burroughs and Mick Jagger drank sweet tea while enjoying a joint in their hands, looking out over the Strait of Gibraltar and the sparkling lights of Tarifa in Spain on the other side of the Mediterranean.

With more than a hundred years under its belt (since 1921), Café Hafa has become a renowned name in Tangier, partly thanks to the preservation of the traditional decor with the several open terraces overlooking the Spanish coast. For locals, Café Hafa is the place where they can smoke hash in peace and with compassion from the police.

In the late afternoon the terrace fills up with Tanjawis who either light a joint or dream away at the panoramic view with a cup of fresh mint tea and msemmen or harcha.

Address: Rue Hafa, Tangier