Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/853621
DAY ONE I had laid out a thorough yet easy itinerary: visit each of my main relationship cooperatives, but with room to add visits according to Phyllis's recommendations. With such a low volume during Kenya's last main season, mostly due to bad weather, I expected a big early crop. While that was the case, Phyllis also told me that there were areas in Kenya that had the reverse season, i.e. a big harvest during the summer months, and a smaller one during the winter months. What?! Was this seasonal coffee Shangri-La? Could we really get fresh high-quality Kenyan coffee every six months? Apparently this is a thing, but not one anyone had ever bothered to tell me about. Ask questions, always. In any case, out the window went my initial itiner- ary, and we headed to Machakos county to meet up with a society that had two wet-mill factories that could potentially fi ll half of our buying needs for this trip. What we found when we got there was a cooperative that had never had a relationship with any singular buyer previously, neither at Kaukiswa, nor Katwanyaa. Even though their quality and outturn percentages had been high enough to garner the farmers 76 KSh/kg of cherry (higher even than some places in Nyeri), because of their off-season market, they had never had a direct muzungu (foreigner) buyer. [Editor's note: KSh denotes the Kenyan shilling. At press time, the currency conversion was approximately 104 KSh to $1 USD.] Typically, no matter how remote or small the cooperative I visit in the Nyeri, Embu, Muranga'a, or Kiambu counties, when I open their visitor's registry, I would fi nd that George Howell had beaten me there by a decade. Or two. But at long last, not here. (Don't worry, George, you're still my hero.) The Kaukiswa mill was beautiful: organized, clean, and well main- tained. Set on a steep slope overlooking a gorgeous valley, the area was buzzing with bees. As I walked around, I noticed that they had something I had never seen at a factory: beehives. Dozens of boxes, all over the property, evenly spread and propped up on poles. These people obviously had vision and passion for their community, and func- tioned as a driving force to succeed through sustainability. When we went to Katwanyaa, I noted how well organized and de- signed the factory was, and just as the other site, how clean. I met the C.O., Ruth, who had been a part of the operation since the founding year of 1996. She quite obviously had the love and loyalty of every- one around her. She showed me their greenhouse where they grow cabbages for the members, the nursery full of SL-28 and Batian, and their own large set of beehives. Next time, I'll grab some honey while I'm at it. DAY TWO This marks the third year that we have worked with Githiru, but we already have quite a rapport going. Last year, chairman Peter Gitonga joined us in Nairobi for a cupping. He expressed that he has a much better understanding of what we want, profi le- and relationship-wise. Farmers make excellent cuppers: If you put six coffees in front of them, and ask them to rank them best to worst, they are always spot on. We cup with as many farmers as possible. It legitimizes our feedback and helps them understand that all stages of farming and processing have an effect in the cup. Sometimes we even have recom- mendations or experiments, if we think someone is game for it. In the case of Githiru, we had discussed covered skin drying tables. Le : The KCCE cupping lab in Nairobi. Looky, looky: another four-barrel sample roaster! Right: Farmer and member of the Kiruga wet-mill factory, Nyeri. 42 barista magazine