Education | Kilimanjaro Specialty Coffees

HOW DO WE SOURCE OUR KENYAN COFFEES?

5/9/2024

We have lost count of the number of cupping sessions involved in the coffee selection process in Kenya. This process lasts several months and includes a series of quality control measures. In simple terms, the coffees we select undergo five main selection procedures before reaching your roastery.

Journey to Origin: This process begins with a visit to cooperatives and a meeting with coffee producers and exporters at origin. Two trips are made; one during the harvest, where no cupping takes place, and another approximately a month when the harvest ends. During this last trip, we cupped around 500 samples per week, which is a pretty intense process. Here the pre-selection is carried out.

HAVE YOU EVER CUPPED A KENYA NATURAL?

5/9/2024

Previously in Kenya, the natural method of coffee processing was considered low quality and intended for the local market. The production of this type of coffee was carried out with floating cherries (the least dense) from the double fermentation process, which were placed without the slightest care on African beds at the end of the harvest. This type of coffee in Kenya is known as Mbuni. However, Mchana Estate has transformed this concept by introducing a more careful and balanced technique in the production of natural coffees.

Mchana Estate is located in Kiambu County in Kenya. Coffee cherries are harvested between 1800-2150 meters above sea level with an average temperature ranging between 13-25 degrees Celsius. Mchana has a workforce of 172 permanent workers and casual workers vary from 200 to 1,200 per day depending on the season. The largest quantity is produced during the peak harvest season.

WHY ARE COFFEE LOGISTICS SO SLOW?

9/26/2023

It's a question we get a lot, especially when we have popular coffees such as Ethiopia or Kenya coming in. Although the logistical process is not difficult per se, it involves so many steps that this, make it complicated. Therefore, it requires proper planning and coordination. At each of these steps there is a risk for quality of the coffee to be affected if anything goes slightly wrong. As we know, the quality of coffee is determined by the quality of the harvest, i.e., how ripe the cherry is when it is removed from the coffee tree. This is the maximum point of quality in the production chain, after that, everything is deterioration, or at best, maintenance.

The task of getting your coffee from the plant to your roastery is what we call coffee logistics. It is a process that consists of three main stages: production, preparation and export/distribution. Each of these stages contains a series of sub-stages or tasks that are carried out by a large number of people and/or machinery. It is also important to note that a number of customs, legal and sanitary rules and regulations must be complied with. Furthermore, in our role as importers or buyers of green coffee, we must ensure that the highest quality standards are met at each of these stages.

Altitude or latitude, what matters more when it comes to quality?

8/22/2023

We recently saw on social media that a roastery was promoting an Ethiopian coffee, emphasising that the altitude of 2,000m above sea level at which it was grown was impressive!!!! And this made us think about how incomplete the information we receive is and how little is known about all the factors that influence the cultivation of coffee and its impact on quality. Because altitude alone does not tell us much, if it is not accompanied by latitude (location of the place where the coffee has been grown with respect to the Equator), microclimate, soil quality, species, variety, process, etc.

All this information boils down to the need to produce denser coffee beans. Density in coffee is synonymous with quality, because a bean grown at the right altitude and latitude is most likely to grow in a cold microclimate with less oxygen, which will slow down the ripening of the cherry on the plant. Slow ripening is essential to produce quality coffees, because the longer the cherry spends on the plant, the more sugars the cherry will absorb during its development and the more complex its flavour will be.

Ethiopia, the long journey from the washing station to your roastery.

7/28/2023

The long journey of coffee has come to an end. It has been several months of arduous effort in which thousands of hands have worked together for a single goal, the production of coffee of the highest possible quality. Although the logistical situation has improved compared to last year, the departure from Ethiopia to Djibouti is chaotic and slow, which risks affecting the quality of the coffee and its moisture content.

Ethiopia, the world's second largest producer of "arabica only" after Colombia, has only one harvest per year and in a very limited period of time. Producing so much coffee in such a short time is a major challenge, especially when there are deficiencies in such important aspects as infrastructure, capital flows, inflation, climate change and the lack of organisation so characteristic of Africa, but particularly present in Ethiopia.

A DEEP DIVE INTO ETHIOPIAN COFFEE QUALITY

4/5/2023

When it comes to the selection of Ethiopian coffees, the possibilities of flavours, fragrances, and aromas are virtually endless. Cup profiles are so varied that most importers or roasters do not expect a specific profile for an Ethiopian coffee. The same does not hold for origins such as Kenya or Sumatra, where roasters are looking for berries or chocolate, respectively.

From a sensorial perspective, the acidity of Ethiopian coffees is as diverse as the number of acid components that a coffee bean has. Like sweetness, cleanliness and texture, acidity is fundamental in our sensory analysis and selection work. It is important to note that in the long journey of coffee from the plant to the cup, the acidity and all the sensorial attributes can be modified, enhanced, damaged or eliminated.

EXPERIMENTAL FERMENTATIONS: MYTH OR REALITY?

8/19/2022

Is specialty coffee a trend of experimental fermentations or a movement that seeks to generate profound changes in the way coffee is marketed in the world? What do we gain by talking so much about experimental fermentations if they rarely achieve exceptional cups? Can experimental fermentation really improve the quality of a poorly harvested lot? Are the experimental fermentations fully controlled or are there random elements that influence their final result?

Apparently today it is no longer enough to produce washed, natural or honey coffees; A very good lot of washed Bourbon variety from Burundi seems to have lost its charm. In our opinion, there is something wrong with this industry, if we have to put orange peel or cinnamon sticks to add flavours to a lot! Fermentation in specialty coffees has never been and will never be controlled, at least until the day when the entire productive structure at origin is modified, and a technological level such as the one that exists today in the wine industry is reached.

WHY KENYAN FARMERS ARE GRAFTING RUIRU 11 WITH SL 28?

5/24/2022

Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby plant tissues are joined together to continue growing together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the stem, while the lower part is called the rootstock.

The Ruiru 11 variety was released in 1985. The name of the variety has the prefix "Ruiru" which refers to the location of the Kenya Coffee Research Station where the variety was developed. The variety is not only resistant to CBD and CLR, but is also compact, allowing farmers to intensify production per unit of land.

WHY THE GRADE IS KEY WHEN BUYING ETHIOPIAN COFFEE?

3/16/2022

Ethiopia exported 148,882 tons of coffee during the first six months of the current marketing year from August 21 to January 22, generating $578 million, 20% more than projected, according to the Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Authority.

Germany was the major importer of the highly-sought beans for the period followed by Saudi Arabia and Japan. This is important, because there are 5 different grades that are allowed to be exported from Ethiopia, so we need to understand the difference between them.

ARE KENYA'S CUP PROFILES CHANGING? DISMANTLING THE MYTH.

2/11/2022

Pseudoscience is a tendency to make claims without any scientific basis. For example, anti-vaccine activism can cause people to forego proven medical treatments, which can lead to death or serious health problems.

In our beloved industry, unfortunately, we often come across "pseudo-scientists" who make assertions that are not based on scientific methodology, but rather are based on "coffee mythology" (if such a thing exists), or ideas that are more fabrication of the industry, than serious scientific studies regarding a given topic.

Let's take the concept of a cup profile for a minute. How on earth, could someone assure what the cup profile of a given origin is?