Gathaithi Farmers Cooperative Society is located about 160 km north of Nairobi, between Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare ranges. It has over 1,100 active members who tend small parcels of land—about 140 hectares in total.
The smallholder/cooperative arrangement is similar to that in Ethiopia, but its origins differ vastly:
“Established as a British colony specifically for its moneymaking potential, Kenya became a coffee powerhouse as a way for the empire to control both the tea (already a Kenyan staple crop) and coffee markets worldwide. By the 1920s, as Europe demanded more and more coffee, the cash crop became a major Kenyan export, and in the 1930s the auction system was developed, ostensibly to democratize the market for farmers. After Kenya achieved independence from Britain in the 1960s, coffee took on a greater importance to small landholders, many of whom were given coffee farms in the redistribution of private property from large colonial and government-owned plantations.
In the 2000s, approximately 85% of the coffee farms in Kenya are owned by natives to the country, though European influence is still evident in larger estates. Today, the majority of Kenyan farmers tend small plots, growing as few as 150 coffee trees: They bring cherry to centrally located mills, where their coffees are weighed, sorted, and combined to create lots large enough to process and export. There are also privately owned estates, though fewer than during colonial days: The average estate grows around 10,000 coffee trees.”
This lot is a multi-varietal washed process, grown at altitudes that go as high as 2300 masl. It’s a classic representation of a Kenyan profile: extremely bright and sharp, with some notes of sweetness.
All the images and information about this coffee and its producers have been kindly shared by the importer, Cafe Imports, and edited by us, Sample Coffee (unless linked to or credited otherwise).
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