At the end of January, our roasters Amir and Jakub exchanged the environment of the roastery for Kenyan farms and cupping laboratories. Specialty coffee from Kenya is one of our key origins. That's why we decided to travel there. Our trip had two goals. To get to know personally the places where the coffee from our offer is born, to get to know the farmers personally, and mainly to secure in the auction with sufficient advance the best lots for the upcoming season.
Our journey started in Nairobi, in the green coffee warehouse of our partner Sucafina. The first days were about maximum concentration – we had approximately 300 coffee samples on the table, which were to go to auction the very next day.
The coffee market in Kenya works very specifically. Up to 88% of production is sold through a state auction, which takes place every Tuesday. In order to bring you the highest quality beans, we have to identify and auction them in advance. Only in this way can we guarantee that we will get the best lots from the current harvest.
After intensive cuppings, we moved directly into the field. In Kenya, coffee is more than just a product – it's about people. We visited farms and cooperatives to understand the differences in how they work:
Personal contact with growers is crucial for us. When we know who is behind the coffee and in what conditions it is born, we can convey its story to you much more authentically.
Specialty coffee in Kenya is processed by the wet method in 99,9% of cases. Although we arrived at the very end of the season, we had the opportunity to see the precision of their processes.
The process starts with pulping and fermentation, which lasts 12 – 32 hours. This is followed by washing and a second fermentation, sometimes under water, to stabilize the temperature and yeast activity. The whole process takes 2 – 3 days and each station has its own procedures. After drying on African beds, the coffee travels to the mill (dry milling), where samples are prepared for buyers like us.
An interesting feature is also the "Mbuni" processing. These are unripe cherries that are harvested at the end of the season to prepare the trees for the next year. These are processed by the dry method and sold as lower quality coffee.
We are very happy about the visit to the Kagumo station, which belongs to the Mutira cooperative. This cooperative brings together 8000 coffee tree owners. It was in Kagumo that we saw the processing in action and managed to buy their coffee, which you will soon taste too.
Kagumo caught our attention with its emphasis on development – as one of the few stations, it has its own roastery. The positive energy and quality we saw there confirmed to us that we chose right. A specialty was also honey from coffee tree flowers, which unfortunately we couldn't not buy.
The last cuppings before departure confirmed our favorites. The selection for this year will be excellent. We want to thank the Sucafina team for their expert care and great work in the field. Thanks to such partnerships, we at Goriffee can increase quality in the long term and bring you coffees with a clear origin and story.
