We visited a small scale coffee producer George Ndege. He has been growing a native variety called Compact, which is unique in the region. He had some success and started selling his nursery plants to his neighbours with a very low price, aiming to encourage his farming fellows to start growing specialty coffee and to support their livelihood. His sense of community was very inspiring.

That made me think, what can I do to my fellow roasters, and the coffee industry?

It was an honour cupping some delicious coffees from Acacia Hills at their lab. The hard work of the Quality Control team definitely was reflected in the cup quality.

After the cupping, we had a walk around Acacia Hills. Leon explained to us the different coffee tree varieties and how they maintained the coffee trees.

In the afternoon cupping session, roasters shared their thoughts of how they find the use of different quality / flavour profile coffees. We realised most of us shared the same thoughts.

The bonding of the roasters and producer is fascinating. Even with such a short time that we’ve met and spent time with, we are developing a wonderful friendship.

Finagro Edelweiiss Farm

Visiting the Finagro Edelweiss farm in Karatu, Tanzania, we witnessed a master class in coffee management under the direction of Neel Vohora and the prominent agronomist Hugh Johansen.

I think that it would be sensible for producers worldwide to see Finagro Edelweiss as a farm to watch out for and incorporate its excellent practices into their own farms.

The knowledge they have at the Finagro Edelweiss farm is vast; they know what they are doing and why they do it that way. And all that is transferred to the cup.

We were able to taste various coffees during the cupping. There were some clean coffees with well-defined character. I found the Kent varieties to be particularly outstanding.

Neel’s explanations about the different processes on the farm were a testament to many years of experience.

I would also like to highlight the presence of Hueg Johanssen, an elderly agronomist with great expertise. Despite his mobility issues, he had the enormous strength of will to accompany us throughout the tour.

Thank you Hueg, for being an example of self-improvement and for your generosity in sharing with us your knowledge of coffee.

I know that not only have you played an important role in making Finagro Edelweiss what it is today, but you will also be a crucial person in making the farm what it will become in the coming years.

Speaking of the coming years, Hueg pointed out two major challenges:

1. The optimization of water consumption in the processes.

2. To shift all coffee production to specialty coffee.

I would like to highlight the good practices of this farm that have an impact on the quality of the cup:

The trees are planted with a minimum of three meters between each other; They don’t cut down over 90-year-old trees, because they are aware of the value of the fruits produced by these old trees.

The varieties they work with are Bourbon, Kent, Batian, Geisha, Pacamara, Ruiru 11, SL28, K7, and KP423.

Finally, I’d like to share Neel Vohora’s suggestion for when we evaluate a cup:

Before judging a coffee by the appearance of the green beans, let’s taste it in the cup.

Acacia Hills Coffee Estate

I can’t help but associate everything that revolves around this farm with divinity.

Its farm staff, natural surroundings and the coffees they produce are more like those of paradise than of the earthly world.

Leon, its owner, is an inspiration, beauty and honorable host.

And for me, it is precisely two of these qualities that produced his coffees: inspiration and beauty.

Cupping sessions of his coffees have been first class.

About the cuppings. When each session began, Lab members would step aside and let the coffees speak, waiting for the perfect moment.

And they did speak.

Their coffees are the highest quality, which was unequivocally evident in the taste of their coffees.

Their coffees are genuine, consistent and have extraordinary subtlety, showing us the essence of purity.

Now, how does Acacia Hills manage to produce coffees with these characteristics?

I could understand it after I got to know Leon and traveled with him and his team to see their coffee farms and post-harvest systems.

Finca Mondul / Burka Coffee Estates

The first stop on this trip far exceeded my expectations.

Upon arriving at Burka Coffee, we entered the lab to find their quality control team. There were 11 different blend coffees, each made with a different fermentation method, ready for cupping.

A cycle of silence and action ensued. The show had started.

Professional work and solid roasting – these two factors allow us to discover a new coffee.

Gentle, pleasant, and robust flavor. The farmers must have consistently pursued what their coffee is supposed to represent, and the result is reflected in the cup

Where do these coffees come from?

A few minutes’ drive away, there is Mondul Coffee Estates, home to an all-round production system with a full range of functions comparable to a Swiss army knife.

In the same premises, there is a pesticide and organic compost treatment facility, a nursery, planting, wet and dry mills, a drying area, and a storage, each with plenty of space.

All of it is effective, useful and meaningful.

On top of that, everything is in its place in a precise, rigid order.

The open space is large enough. This ensures efficient operation, and things are spaced out with enough room between each other.

But having hardware alone isn’t enough. Here, they have the experience and knowledge of the workers, too.

This is also evident in the optimal use of resources and the effective use of waste from coffee.

In conclusion, their coffee is elegant.

Before this trip to Tanzania, I was looking forward to visiting farms in Ngorongoro, which is popular among my customers at Coffee Market, and visiting Kongoni farm, from which I buy from, and going on safari.

In Kenya, meanwhile, I wanted to experience its delicious coffee. I wanted to taste a coffee that embodies the Kenyan specialty coffee, an overwhelmingly fruity coffee produced by Peter. As a roaster, I was full of anticipation.

Apparently, Kenya is more a country of tea drinkers than of coffee drinkers. In fact, smallholders at the Karani factory were sipping tea during a break. It was surprising to hear that they had never drunk coffee. I imagine it must be difficult to sell a product for a good price without knowing about the product. If farmers know how delicious coffee is and understand the value of coffee, I think they will be able to produce an even more appealing product.

If farmers rely solely on the soil conditions, it’s risky because of climate change and so on.  I can’t help but feel a sense of concern for the future of Kenyan coffee.

Karani farm in Kirinyaga is known as the biggest coffee origin in Kenya. After we experienced harvest firsthand, we cupped coffees from Kirinyaga and Nyeri and AA and AB grades to taste the differences between the regions and grades.

Even in the same area, different areas have different processes, such as water, climate, wind direction, etc., which results in different characteristics, such as berries and oranges. The main crop is harvested during the rainy season (March to May), and the early crop is harvested during the light rainy season in September and October.

This time we cupped an early crop. My honest impression was that it lacked fruitiness, body, and sweetness. During the post-cupping discussion, Peter mentioned several times that the reason for the weak flavor was the early crop. Still, he was confident that the crop from late November and December would perform better.

The Kenyan coffee trade is strongly influenced by law, which is an auction system.

Big companies are amassing a big profit by purposefully diminishing supply-chain transparency. So Peter is building direct relationships with small farmers and creating a connection between roasters and producers in order to revolutionize the system.

Peter, a Kenyan coffee producer, shared his strong belief. His words were powerful, and I would like to look forward to his next offer.

Thanks to the young roasters who shared this trip with me, I was able to spend 10 very exciting days. It was a great experience to recharge my passion for coffee, which had been diminishing over a long career. I would like to thank everyone who supported this trip

Coffees on the table included some from the Karani factory, where we visited yesterday.

All the coffees were a new crop. But these are a so-called early crop, which means they were harvested early in the harvesting season. So their sweetness and flavor left much to be desired.

They said December harvests will be in prime conditions, with sweetness and flavor. I was able to link the taste and the conditions at the farms and factory I saw yesterday. So I could better understand the appearance of cherries and flavor. I’m already looking forward to trying coffees harvested in the best season.

After the cupping, we had a talk session with Peter.

Kenya is already a great origin whose coffee is unique and flavorful. But the country still has a lot of potential to be fulfilled. I’m looking forward to Rockbern’s future and their collaboration with TYPICA. As a roaster, the biggest contribution I can make to them is by buying a lot of their coffee.

After that, we hurried off to the airport.

I truly felt the splendor of great nature.

In the world of coffee, no matter how small your roastery is, you should face the producers and everything you witness there with an open mind, understand the story of the origin, and convey it to customers without judging by the realistic standards of money.

What is the definition of specialty coffee?

What makes you a specialty coffee roaster?

My thoughts on the past two days…

Through cupping sessions, my boundaries about specialty coffee have been dissolving gradually. Instead of seeing coffee as specialty, maybe I should think about what role that coffee can play for the customer. Should I choose single-origin? Or Should I blend some coffees to bring out the best in each?

It takes more than two protagonists, a man and a woman, to make a successful stage play. Extra performers and backstage staff, too, are the main stars of their own lives. The same goes for coffee.

What makes you a specialty coffee roaster?

In music, no matter how long or difficult the score, as long as the performer correctly interprets it and plays it, then that should be all that matters.

So as the roasters, no matter what the beans

if we understand the beans correctly, do our job to the best of our abilities in a given condition, and satisfy the drinkers.

That is the standard we should aspire to as someone who works with specialty coffee.

Love everything in where.

We visited the Karani factory with Peter. Kenyan coffee lots are not separated according to the individual coffee farmer, but instead, the beans are mixed at a factory and shipped off.

Farmers bring cherries to a nearby factory that owns a wet mill. The factory processes cherries washed (natural is very rare) and sells them to exporters like Rockbern and Kenyacof.

Exporters process parchment into green beans at a dry mill and sell them to importers and roasters.

Peter believes that the current auction system and Kenya’s transaction system don’t serve to protect farmers because those systems are dominated by multinational firms. That’s why he is working to expand direct trade.

Peter gave us a guided tour of the Karani factory. It was a rare opportunity to see firsthand the situation surrounding Kenyan coffee.

Workers just started harvesting cherries today. They said that rainwater from the rainy season hasn’t seeped into the soil yet, and that cherries are not nutritious or ripe enough. But I could see trust between the farmers and Peter, from the farmers’ humble and welcoming attitude.

Wet mill was not operational due to a lack of rain, but they showed us how it works.

We were given a tour of farms and watched farmers harvest cherries and picked some ourselves.

Though they were busy, farmers were very cheerful and welcoming, and made us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

If I get another chance to visit, I’d like to come during the peak harvesting season and experience harvesting myself.

The day after we visited local coffee shops,  we set off for Kenyacof.

There, we were briefed on Kenya’s auction system, which was revised on July 1. The system has some positive aspects, but challenges remain in order for auctions to bring more income to farmers. The details are complicated, so I will explain them at another time, maybe at a gathering or something.

All the roasters asked many questions about the auction system. Our discussions heated up, so this delayed the start of cupping, but in the end we had two cupping sessions.

I cupped blind, and both times the coffees from the Embu region were my favorites! There were some good naturals, but not good enough that I wanted to buy them. This is a difficult issue because it is closely related to the auction system and the domestic coffee trading system as I explained earlier.

After the cuppings, we had lunch with people from Kenyacof!

After lunch, we went to visit a dry mill.

A mill is a processing facility, and there are two types: wet mills and dry mills. A dry mill is basically a place where parchment coffee is hulled and processed into green beans.

In a nutshell, mill workers remove waste that comes with the parchment, hull the parchment, and sort the green beans by size, and put them into bags.

After touring the dry mill, we were given a detailed explanation of the Kenyan grading system.

We sell Kenyan coffee in our store, too, and I knew that AA and AB were about the difference in size. I learned that before green beans are graded by size, parchments are sorted into four different weight classes, P1 to P3 and P Light. From there, they are further graded by weight. I also learned that most of the AA and AB I usually buy are P1 grade. I learned a lot today. And I think this grading has something to do with the differences in taste I felt when I visited coffee shops on our first day in Kenya.

Their working environment is physically demanding, with the loud noise of the machinery, the husks and dust from hulling, and handling 60-kg jute bags of green beans. It really takes a lot of work from harvesting, processing and bagging before green coffee finally reaches Japan.

I will continue to treat their coffee with great care, roasting and brewing with big respect for the producers and all the other people involved in the processing and distribution process.