Bitter Sweet

The Story of West Africa Through the Kola Nut

The beautifully written history of a uniquely West African nut with a truly global story.

The beautifully written history of a uniquely West African nut with a truly global story.

The kola nut is a seed indigenous to West Africa, a seed that ancient caravan travellers chewed to survive their harsh desert journeys, the ‘Cola’ in Coca-Cola.

Bitter Sweet is an invitation into West Africa. Deeply involved in the lives of communities from Senegal to Cameroon, the kola nut has played a central role in customs, commerce and cuisine throughout the region’s vast, varied history. Searching for stories about this caffeine-rich seed as a way to better understand her West African home, acclaimed author Ayesha Harruna Attah takes readers along the Niger River, through the red sands of the Sahel and across the Atlantic Ocean. She traces her family’s roots in Ghana’s forests and savannah, where they were once kola traders and cultivators. In encounters with craftspeople, cultural custodians and descendants of enslaved people who travelled with kola to the Americas, she discovers what this unique commodity can tell us about West African identity and tradition—and about the region’s place in a messy, interconnected world. Along the way, she begins to fall in love with West Africa.

Blending history, travelogue and cultural exploration, Bitter Sweet shows us that after that first bitter bite of kola always comes sweetness.

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.