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It’s early January, the excitement of the festive period left behind, resigned to negative temperatures and the UK’s miserable weather… we’re thankful we can escape it, for a week at least.Â
🇰🇪 New Adventures - Kenya 🇰🇪
Stepping out of Nairobi airport at 6am local time, somewhat tired and disorientated, the mid-twenty degree temperature was a very welcome change, and as loyal devotees to the caffeine life we gravitate to a cafe for a much needed coffee. Its not a long wait before we are met by Peter, our contact and one half of Two Rocks Coffee.
After a quick breakfast with Peter and Peterson (the second half of Two Rocks Coffee), we make our way to the smallholders in the villages outside of Thika. From the get-go we are introduced to some of the issues facing the smallholders; some have been so disheartened by yield and the prices they subsequently get, that they are ready to dig up the trees and start farming other produce. However, through the day, as we visit the various farms, the group of farmers join in with us to see what the their peers are doing and in seeing what others in their community are doing they are encouraged by the possibilities that could be available to them. Even things as simple as mixing manure into the soil and growing other crops to diversify their income, all the way up to one of the farmers called Simon, an engineer by trade, he has introduced a biogas system using the manure from his cows and chickens as a source of fuel. On top of this, he has pumps that push the left over silage around his trees returning the much needed nutrients to the soil.
The following day, Peterson takes us to Abedare Mill, where a collective of over 200 farmers have come together to mill their dried coffee. Joining us is James, a commercial Q grader, who joined as a consultant to help Two Rocks Coffee in making sure the coffee is up to the speciality standard that we need.
At the mill, we cup some of their coffee along with James and are pleasantly surprised at the quality they have been able to produce. It’s not perfect but it gives us a lot of optimism in the potential partnership we could have and the quality that could potentially be produced. The visit is rounded off by again going to a few of the farms and again seeing how they are having to diversify in what they grow and sell given the current volatile nature of the coffee market.
Our day finishes with a meal out with Peterson, his wife, Grace and their son Kim, which provides us with an opportunity to get to know the family better. A big part of being able to source the coffee directly depends on having a good relationship with a central contact in country who shares our values and is someone we can trust and rely upon.Â
So one of our goals going into this trip was to really get to know Peter and Peterson, and very early on in this relationship we already know that their hearts are very much aligned with ours, if not their choice of football teams.
🇹🇿 On the slopes of Kilimanjaro 🇹🇿
One 8 hour bus journey, a border crossing and many bumpy roads later we arrive at Machare Farm in Tanzania, Ian has been here many times over the years, but for me it’s a first. We are shown around the farm by Bente, who talks me through the process of washing and drying the coffee cherries . For the last two years I’ve seen photos, I’ve read previous origin reports, but it’s a whole new thing seeing it in person, to see the importance of things like shade-grown trees and allowing the natural ecosystem to continue to thrive.
We meet up with Thade who takes us up into the Mweka village, and after a brief swim in a waterfall, we walk through the village farms. As we go, Thade explains the difference in how the smallholders differ even to the farm just a short walk down the hill. He shows us how they prune the trees in ways that won’t inhibit their yield, of how they grow their crops in between the coffee trees and how having the shared soil benefits each of the plants.Â
It seems obvious to say, but even after one day, there is a clear difference between the new relationship in Kenya to this well established relationship that Ian has built with the people like Bente at Machare and Thade at Mweka.
A classic day with EA
We start the next day with a breakfast with a clear view of the mountain, and honestly I can’t remember a better start to a day. We are picked up by Ralph and his assistant, Ishani, and go to cup some of their coffees, including a couple experimental processes we haven’t previously come across, and we get to share some of our own expertise in helping them set up their coffee machine and a bit of basic barista training.Â
Our afternoon starts once again with walking up to the village with Thaddi, this time we make our way to Omi School, where last year we helped them to build a new toilet block for the students. This was quite emotional as the teachers shared their thanks and showed us the block we helped to build, and for me personally it can be easy to fall into an abstract and detached understanding that we invest into the communities, but this was a reality check of really knowing that the work we do does have a real impact to the communities we work with. We finish off our visit by returning to sit with the teachers and talk with them about what more we can do for them, so keep a look out for our post about that!
We move on to meet with the Orera Village CPU (Coffee Processing Unit) who have for many years supplied us with our ‘Mountain Top’ coffee. Sadly however, it is here that we really see the impact that the changing climate has on the crops here. Where we usually would get 30 sacks, this year they have one sack (for context, even the main Machare farm is down 80% from their average crop!), nowhere near what we would need to be able to ship it over to the UK. Whilst not having one of our favourite coffees is upsetting for us and our customers who love it, it’s nothing compared to the negative impact that not having coffee to sell has on this community. The village relies on selling their coffee to help with all the costs that come with sending their children to school, from their text books to the food they have at lunch. So not having coffee to sell means no funds to be able to send their children to school for a year, which will obviously have a major impact on their and their families future. It’s a real testament to Ian and the ethos he has built at the core of Ethical Addictions, that his immediate reaction was to ask how much they would need to be able to send the kids to school, that the children shouldn’t have to pay the price for circumstances far beyond their control.Â
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We leave the CPU with much to think about, and make our way to Thade’s house, where we meet his wife and children, and they show us how they mill, roast and grind their coffee, and whilst it’s vastly different to how we would do it at the roastery, it’s fascinating to see the same principles applied in a very different way.Â
We finish the day by having dinner with Ralph, Bente and Ishani, and again it’s just a nice time of conversations and food, and another instance where it’s easy to see the relationship between EA and the farm in Machare.
Looking back, Ian and I have reflected that this day just epitomises what EA is about,Â
1. Enjoying good coffee,Â
2. Helping set up machines and teaching basic barista skills
3. Investing in community projects
4. Supporting the farmers in more ways than just buying their coffee
5. Building good relationships.
Honest Conversations
There are so many other things I could say but ultimately my main thoughts coming away from Kenya and Tanzania is for me this is when things became real. I have been part of the EA team for just over two years, and in that time I’ve learnt how we trade and how it differs from other roasters, I’ve seen the photos and watched the videos, I’ve even met one of our Brazilian farmers when they came to the UK. However, it’s another thing entirely to see in reality the farms and the relationships Ian and EA has built with the people in Tanzania, and the relationships started in Kenya.
But part of those relationships is being able to have honest and real conversations with people. For example in Kenya, we had to be honest that if the coffee wasn’t at the quality needed, we can’t buy it. At the end of the day whilst we want to work with them, support them and help them in their business, ultimately we care about both sides in the chain, our suppliers and our customers so we need the quality of coffee to offer to our customers. We have been encouraged by the steps that Peter and Peterson have already taken to improve their personal knowledge of coffee, and in encouraging the farmers in the steps they can take in caring for their crop in ways that will improve quality and yield.
So while there is a long way to go in our relationship with Kenya, and there is challenges to be overcome in Tanzania, we left quite optimistic about our future partnerships and look with excitement as to what the future may bring.
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