Just a few days ago, I walked into a coffee shop and bought a 250gr bag of Kenyan coffee for €20 approx. While I'm happy to pay that kind of money for a very good Kenya in a bag full of tasty promises, when I got home I found only disappointment.

It is an open secret within the specialty industry, that Kenyan coffees have been in a low the last couple of years, and probably it is one of the most controversial topics right now. As you may know, Kenya is one of the most prized origins within the specialty coffee world, it is sought by importers and roasters from all over the world as an origin of outstanding quality, intense sweetness, citrus/winey acidities and velvety bodies.

We would normally cup 500+ samples from Kenya each season, between origin and lab cuppings. Maybe the right number is something closer to 1,000 samples, between February and March each year since 2016. This year the quantity was lower for obvious reasons. And while it's common knowledge among coffee connoisseurs from around the world, that there has been a disruption in the quality of this great origin, we can discuss on the causes or how much it has been affected, but I don’t think anybody that understand well the Kenyan coffee industry, can deny there is a problem.

​This disruption in quality according to our understanding, can be explained by three main reasons: (1) Climate change; (2) Introduction new varieties and (3) Failure of the Nairobi coffee Exchange (NCE) to reach farmers with proper income and farming supplies.

If you are curious on how will the consequences of climate change hit us, here in Kenya you can get a small taste of it. In 2017, the Kenyan government declared a drought national state of disaster, where 2.7 million people were at risk of famine. Although, the most affected areas were the northern and coastal counties of Kenya, where there is no coffee production, still the coffee industry got affected, especially in the central coffee regions, where the best lots are produced, because the rains were much less than in normal years.
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Here is what happens to a coffee tree during a drought. When water demand of a coffee tree is higher than supply, drought stress occurs. Drought stress causes wilting, yellowing of the leaves, advanced leaf fall, and premature fruit ripening or fruit drop.
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Kenya gain its prestige as an outstanding origin around the coffee world for many factors, including: altitude, soil type, rainfall pattern, processing expertise, overall quality; but one of the main reasons of its success was their coffee varieties. In the 1930s, SL28 and SL34 were the two most famous varieties created by Scott Labs, hence the prefix SL. These varieties produce coffees of excellent cup quality and are medium/high yielding under the right circumstances of altitude and rainfall, but are susceptible to diseases such as CBD and CLR.

Aware of the disease problem, in 1985 the Kenyan Coffee Research Institute developed a new variety call Ruiru11. The name given by the town where the station where it's was developed was located. The variety is not only resistant to CBD and CLR but also, it's an extremely high yielding variety, allowing farmers with a small plot of land (which are getting smaller by generation after generation) to increase their production significantly. Although, the intention was to develop a variety with similar cup quality to those of SLs, but the truth is that quality wise, they are very distant.

Then, Batian was developed to solve the quality problem of Ruiru 11. By the year 2010 the Kenya Coffee Research introduced this variety which is much closer to SL28 (genetically speaking) than Ruiru 11. It's also resistant to CBD and CLR but it's cup quality is much better than Ruiru11 and similar to a medium quality SL28, according to some Kenyan cuppers. The best SL28 lots are still unmatchable. We believe that the future of the Kenyan coffee should focus in lot separation by variety.

In the producing world, coffee is political. Generally coffee exports are a major income earner, and in some countries such as Burundi, coffee represents as much as 80% of the total foreign currency revenue. In Ethiopia, it represents 50% of the total.

Coffee in Kenya has become a very good business for a few people, but a very bad one for most. In the 2013/14 year, a miller owed the society more than KSh74 million for cherry and mbuni (unwashed low quality coffee) while the cooperative owed farmers more than KSh85 million. However, instead of remitting the money to the society for payments, Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters (KCCE) paid creditors (Sasini) KSh48 million and Kenya Cooperative Coffee Mills (KCCM) KSh25 million, leaving the farmers with nothing.

Among big investors and marketing agents around the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) there is worry. Climate change is not helping to increase coffee production neither its quality, rather the very opposite; Introduction of new varieties haven't worked the way it was expected to; And farmers are very disappointed with the crop, to say the less.

The government is searching for new ways to revive the ailing coffee sector, among them the introduction of cheap loans for coffee farmers. This will be done through a KSh3 billion Coffee Cherry Fund, farmers will be able to access with an interest rate of 3%. This comes as a wake-up call, seeing that statistics show that Kenyan coffee production for the 2019-2020 year dropped to 650,000 bags, the lowest output in over 50 years.

Something has to change in Kenya, this business model isn't working and the bubble might be about to explode.

The end.
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​But as in all areas of life, nothing is perfect, and the Kenyan coffee industry is no exception. It is no mystery to anyone that agriculture is the cornerstone of the Kenyan economy, and the cooperative movement has a solid footprint that can be traced until just after independence in 1963.

Today, there are about 5,000 agricultural cooperatives throughout the country, and of these, 421 correspond to cooperatives of smallholders coffee farmers, with a total of 570,824 active members. The cooperative movement seeks to generate wealth, food security and employment, which ultimately results in poverty reduction; But the harsh reality is very different. With few exceptions, due to corruption and mismanagement of many boards of directors, these objectives are far from being met, and coffee farmers have been affected by decreasing their income in such a way that many have stopped growing coffee and the vast majority are very disappointed of the crop.

​The main reason for this phenomenon, is not the lack of customers who would pay good prices, because as importers or roasters, it is at this origin where those who go in search of exceptional coffees, pay on average the highest prices in the world. The problem lies in how that wealth is distributed within the productive chain in Kenya, and the inability of the farmers to question the expense of the cooperative, the miller, the marketing agent or the exporter.

On our recent trip we met cases, in which the manager of the coop at the end of the season pointed out that after selling all the coffee (at a reasonable price), expenses had been deducted and coffee growers owed money to the cooperative !!! Which also means that for the present campaign, there was no money for fertilizers, pesticides, training, etc. Generating a negative spiral of destruction which will be almost impossible to leave, unless these farmers leave coffee cultivation for other cash crops.

​This is just one example of the very many that can be found traveling through the coffee areas of Kenya. We believe that the solution to poverty, inequality and corruption in this sector is to empower coffee growers to be able to question, doubt, debate; and in this way no one will ever cheat them again. But how long will it take to make this happen? We don't know, but we're sure it won't be fast neither easy.

We can help to begin to make this change by highlighting traceability even more; "Shouting out loud" the name of those cooperatives that are doing a good job; Generating more direct relationships; And asking the key question, how much are coffee farmers receiving per Kg of cherry? An optimum in Kenya is KSH100/Kg of cherry, that is, USD1 per Kg of cherry.

​In August of the year 2018, the price of coffee reached levels considered alarming by the majority of those who work in the coffee industry. For the first time in 12 years, the "C" price in New York fell below 100cts/lb. While it is true, the average price of the last 12 years is not much higher than 120cts/lb, this decline generated unprecedented reactions in the specialty coffee world, which we think is positive.

Historically, the price of coffee has been extremely volatile, due to the never ending discrepancies between supply and demand. But these constant cycles of highs and lows, have devastating effects for producers and coffee workers from around the world. Of course, in the United States this crisis goes virtually unnoticed, where the global coffee market is dominated by few multinationals: Kraft General Foods, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Sara Lee, J.M. Smucker Company, Starbucks Corporation and Dunkin’ Donuts. 

Globally, coffee is a US $ 100 billion business annually (Business Insider 2018), but producing countries only capture US $ 20 billion of this value, with most of the profits being retained in developed countries. As on the supply side, the coffee world is very fragmented, with millions of small-scale coffee farmers, the power of the business lies in the large importers and roasters, who buy the green beans and process them into various products.

But what would happen: if small coffee farmers knew exactly how much their product is worth? If they could calculate their production, logistics and marketing costs? And if they could obtain a price that promotes the quality and sustainability of their production?

​We strongly believe that the key to unlock this crisis, does not lie on the same companies that have controlled the business for centuries, but it is at the origin. It should not be New York, London or Berlin, who decides what is the "fair price" that a coffee farmer must obtain. But it must be the coffee farmer, informed and empowered, who demand the price that he deems appropriate, according to the quality he obtained and the investment he made.

We have an invaluable opportunity in the young and new generations of coffee growers, with unlimited access to online information, eager to learn and with a global mind set. There is where we must aim all our efforts to improve  this reality.

Let's make this a sustainable business for everyone and enjoy your specialty coffee!

​In Kenya, after a certain lot has been processed, it will be delivered to the Marketing Agent (MA) in parchment by the farmer or cooperative. The MA will then mill and grade the lot by shape and size, and give this particular lot an unique "Outturn Number" (ON), before delivering it to the Nairobi Coffee Exchange. This ON system will be crucial to provide transparency and traceability to the system.

​The once full lot will have now a unique ON but many different grades, that can go from:

AA (7,2 mm), 
AB (6,6 mm), 
PB (peaberries), 
C (screen 14-15), 
E, TT, T, UG, MH, ML; these are just some of the full range of different grades.

According to our experience cupping at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange, the best coffees are found always between the grades AA, AB, PB and C. But the system assumes that the bigger the bean the better the cup, but that is not always correct. We have had many times the best cup in the C grade and not in the AA for the same ON.

​Anyway, to make our search more efficient, considering the great number of samples and the limited time we have, we focus only in the AA, AB, and PB grades. Through that selective research, the centralized system of the Nairobi Coffee Exchange has allowed us, to discover some hidden jewels from very remote areas of the country, that it would have been impossible to find just travelling around.

In simple words the Nairobi Coffee Exchange works as a weekly Cup of Excellence, stimulating competition and prices for the best lots; and the different grades generate the synergy that provides the best formula for maximizing the benefits of small farmers.

This formula becomes particularly important, in times like this week, when the Coffee Futures in New York plummet to minimums of more than 12 years to 100.4 cts / lb.

Enjoy your Kenya coffee in Barcelona and Santiago!

​Certainly, the specialty coffee industry has grown exponentially in the last five years. The progress we have seen and experienced in farming, processing, logistics, roasting and brewing are undeniable and certainly admirable. But is this level of growth sustainable in the long term? Are we neglecting quality to privilege the quantity?

​We must never forget, that the fundamental pillar of our industry is quality. From farm to cup, what sets us apart from other sectors of the coffee business, is simply quality. But not only the quality of the bean, also the quality of our commercial relationships (ETHICS), the kind of information we deliver (TRACEABILITY), our production processes (CUPPING), the way we relate to the environment (SUSTAINABILITY).

In times of massive festivals, where the offer is overwhelming, the visual stimulation excessive and the time limited, we must ask ourselves: How can one be able to consume and digest so much information and coffee in such a short period of time? Ask also, what is the purpose of this massive festivals? And with this, where do we want to go from here, and if this is the right path?

It is always a good time to make the necessary adjustments and amend the route.

Question everything and enjoy your coffee!

​After crossing three oceans, the Suez and Panama Canal and also the Red and Mediterranean Sea, we finally have totally available in Barcelona and Santiago our new Tanzanian lots and microlots.

It took us three trips in the span of three years, to be able to find these extraordinary lots and microlots, with complete traceability to the farm or the washing station (as the case may be). Although, Tanzania has similar conditions and the potential of Kenya or Burundi to produce excellent coffees; for various historical, political, economic, cultural and environmental reasons, the local coffee industry has not managed to develop like its neighbors, and therefore, until very recently it was very difficult to find high quality coffees throughout the country.

​Fortunately, since five years ago, several private companies have begun to invest in infrastructure and support cooperatives and small coffee farmers to encourage them to produce more and better coffees. Although, at the beginning of this year the government of Tanzania put the quota of uncertainty, announcing a series of changes in the regulations of the local coffee industry.

Basically, as of July 2018, all coffee will be sold through auctions administered by the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB). As of the same date, there will be no issuance of licenses to buy parchment or cherry. The TCB will develop a certified coffee catalog where exporters will compete to buy certified coffee through the auction system.

​At first glance, these and other changes point to the establishment of the same centralized auction system with which 90% of coffee is commercialized in Kenya. But it will also be necessary to see how this new system is introduced and adopted by the various actors in the local coffee industry, and whether these changes will have an impact on the quality and traceability of the future lots that we buy in Tanzania.

Everything remains to be seen, but as always, we will be alert to inform you of any news.

For now enjoy the moment, the trip and your cup of Tanzania!

​In producing countries (which are almost all very poor), coffee is a fundamental part of the life of its inhabitants and the country's Gross Domestic Product. Therefore, the future and decisions of the coffee industry will always be influenced by a more general vision of a group of politicians, who without having the expertise or without seeking proper advice, decide what "they believe best" for a group of people or coffee farmers, which are ultimately the "heart" that pumps the money into the economy of a coffee producing country.

This is the case of Ethiopia, where the country's majority ethnic group the Oromos (who are mostly coffee producers and farmers), have been at the center of chaos for the past three years, staging violent protests against the central government (led by the minority Tigray ethnic group) accusing them of marginalize Oromos from the rapid economic growth of the country and constant violation of human rights.

​Last month, Hailemariam Desalegn unexpectedly resigned to his post as prime minister, saying that his resignation "was vital to carry out the reforms that Ethiopia needs to have a sustainable and peaceful democracy". A few days ago, Abiy Ahmed was appointed as new Prime Minister. This 42 year old Oromo, born in the coffee town of Agaro, very close to Limmu, has great support from the younger generations of Oromos and also from other ethnic groups.

​We are following very closely the development of the conflict, the lifting of the state of emergency and the general political situation in Ethiopia; If everything goes well, we hope to receive our first shipment of the last crop 2017/18 in Barcelona next June.

To understand the coffee industry of a country, it is essential to understand its political situation and history. Enjoy your coffee!