Everyday Ritual · Cardamom-Spiced Black Tea
Shaah Somali
📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Naimaisse / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
It's brewed with whole cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves simmered directly in the milk and water — closer to a mini chai ceremony than a teabag-and-hot-water routine.
Shaah is strong black tea boiled with milk, sugar, and a mix of whole spices — usually cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves — until deeply fragrant, then strained into small glasses. It's poured constantly at roadside tea stalls across Somali cities and is the fixture around which most street-corner conversation happens.
Why it's made this way: With alcohol absent from daily life, tea stalls function as the real social hubs of Somali towns, where men gather over glass after glass through the afternoon and evening.
More from Somalia
Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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