Cafeography
Nairobi · CBD

Cafés in CBD

Kenyatta Avenue, the Thorn Tree Café at the Stanley, the Ketepa tea house and late coffee on Standard Street.

Photo: Justin Brian, Pexels License

Nairobi began as a rail depot. The Uganda Railway reached the site on 30 May 1899, and the name comes from the Maasai Enkare Nyirobi, "place of cool waters".1 Two of the first streets survive under new names: Victoria Street is now Tom Mboya Street and Station Street is Moi Avenue.1 Kenyatta Avenue crosses the center from Moi Avenue to Uhuru Highway.2

Downtown cafés range across the city's history. The Thorn Tree Café belongs to the Stanley, founded in 1902 as the Victoria Hotel and Nairobi's first luxury hotel,3 at the junction of Kenyatta Avenue and Kimathi Street,4 while Café Amka on Standard Street opened in 2022 and builds its menu on lots its co-founder picks on farm visits.5

Local tip: At the Thorn Tree Café, look at the board beside the acacia: travelers still leave messages and notices there, as they did on the trunk.3

At a glance

17Cafés listed
3With opening hours
07:00Earliest opening
22:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Eco Cafe, from 07:00 (Daily 07:00–22:00).
  • Closes latest: Cafe AMKA, until 22:00 (Daily 08:00–22:00).
  • Most common features: outdoor seating (12%), open late (12%), specialty (6%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Nairobi.

Coffee chains in CBD

Kenyatta Avenue, from Sixth Avenue to Delamere Avenue

The avenue was Sixth Avenue in 1921 and was renamed Delamere Avenue after Lord Delamere died in 1931; his statue came down during Africanisation, and the road now carries Jomo Kenyatta's name.2 Nyayo House stands on it just past the General Post Office, a building where writers who opposed one-party rule under Moi were reportedly detained.2

Pointzero Cafe is on Kenyatta Avenue itself. Bejo's is on Koinange Street, and Coffee World on Mondlane Street has wheelchair access.

The Stanley and its thorn tree

Mayence Bent and Daniel Ernest Cooper opened the first Stanley Hotel on Victoria Street in 1904, naming it after the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, and guests pinned notes for friends on a thorn tree at its pavement café.4 F. F. Tate's 60-room hotel on Delamere Avenue followed in 1913, and the Nairobi Stock Exchange, constituted in 1954, traded from its Long Bar until 1991.4

Today's Thorn Tree Café is open-air and takes its name from the Naivasha thorn tree (Acacia xanthophloea) at its center.3 The tree is the third on the spot, planted in 1997, and a time capsule buried beneath it is due to be opened in 2038.36 Overland travelers between Cairo and Cape Town once used the trunk as an informal post office for messages and lift requests, and in 1996 it gave Lonely Planet the name for its online forum.6

Tea at Ketepa and specialty lots at Café Amka

Kenya Tea Packers, known as Ketepa, has blended and packed tea since 1978.7 In 2018 it opened a tea house in the KTDA Farmers Building on Tom Mboya Street, where baristas prepare specialty teas beside ordinary black tea, aimed above all at young adults.8 The Kenya Tea Packers Tea House opens Tuesday to Saturday, 08:00–18:00, with tables outside.

Café Amka was opened in 2022 by co-founder Wangui Ndegwa, who chooses beans on farm visits and brews lots processed by carbonic maceration and anaerobic fermentation on a Sanremo Café Racer espresso machine.5 In May 2026 a V60 there cost about KSh 550, and a small jar holding two cups of the top lots KSh 2,200.5

Hours and getting downtown

Eco Cafe on Mama Ngina Street opens at 07:00 every day and serves until 22:00, the same closing time as Café Amka, which opens at 08:00.

By car, the Nairobi Expressway has a Haile Selassie exit for the center; the 27.1 km toll road runs from Mlolongo, past Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, to Waiyaki Way in Westlands.9

Sources

  1. Nairobi, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  2. The ironies and hidden stories of Kenyatta Avenue, The Star (October 9, 2021), accessed October 2026
  3. Stanley Hotel, Nairobi, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  4. Long, impressive history of the Sarova Stanley, Business Daily (October 15, 2015), accessed October 2026
  5. Inside Nairobi's specialty coffee boom where cups cost up to Sh2,000, Business Daily (May 13, 2026), accessed October 2026
  6. Mile 327 and an unofficial tree post office: Nairobi's time capsule, Khaleej Times (August 12, 2021), accessed October 2026
  7. Kenya Tea Packers (KETEPA), KETEPA, accessed October 2026
  8. Ketepa tea houses raise competition for local coffee chains, Business Daily (June 24, 2018), accessed October 2026
  9. Nairobi Expressway, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
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In CBD, also browse: Wi-Fi Outdoor seating

FAQ

CBD cafés: questions

Where is the Thorn Tree Café in Nairobi's CBD?

The Thorn Tree Café is the open-air café of the Stanley Hotel, at the junction of Kenyatta Avenue and Kimathi Street. It is named after the Naivasha thorn tree at its center; the current tree, planted in 1997, is the third on the spot, and a time capsule beneath it is due to be opened in 2038.

Where can you drink Kenyan tea in Nairobi's CBD?

Ketepa, the Kenya Tea Packers company, opened a tea house in the KTDA Farmers Building on Tom Mboya Street in 2018, with baristas preparing specialty teas as well as black tea. The Kenya Tea Packers Tea House downtown opens Tuesday to Saturday from 08:00 to 18:00 and has outdoor seating.

Which cafés in Nairobi's CBD stay open until 22:00?

Eco Cafe on Mama Ngina Street and Café Amka on Standard Street both close at 22:00 every day. Eco Cafe opens at 07:00 and Café Amka at 08:00. Café Amka, opened in 2022, brews specialty lots chosen on farm visits; a V60 pour-over cost about KSh 550 in May 2026.

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