Mzuzu Coffee Den

The flagship shop of the Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union

The Coffee Den is a small, surprisingly polished café in the centre of Mzuzu run by the Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union. They serve their own coffee — espresso, cappuccino, plunger, and iced — at a fraction of European prices, and the food (toasted sandwiches, cake, light meals) is reliable.

For travellers it is the obvious meeting point in town: power sockets, decent wifi, English newspapers, and a noticeboard advertising lifts to Nyika and Nkhata Bay. There is also a small shop selling whole and ground beans by weight — Misuku peaberry is the prize bean, available roasted to order. A second branch operates near the airport and at Mzuzu University.

bars and cafes cafe
A story
The Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union — usually shortened to "Mzuzu Coffee" — represents some 3,000 smallholder growers in the highlands around Misuku and Viphya, most of them women. The cooperative produces the only Fairtrade and organic-certified coffee in Malawi and exports to roasters in Europe, the United States, and Japan; the Coffee Den is one of the few places inside Malawi where you can actually buy the beans by the bag.