Makena Estate is owned by Japheth Mwaura and is a true family operation. His 34 hectare farm sits on the slopes of Mount Kenya in truly ideal conditions for coffee production.
Japheth spoke to Cafe Imports, the importer of this coffee, about the incredible resources of the nearby Nyamindi River where they source fresh water for coffee processing.
The Mwaura family has planted predominantly SL28 on this estate and take meticulous care during processing, utilizing traditional Kenya double wash technique.
Estate-specific or single producer coffees like these are rare in Kenya. Microlots are generally traceable to either the factory level and are selected basis cup score. Because the majority of coffee farmers in Kenya own between 1/8–1/4 a hectare of land, most deliver coffee in cherry form to a local factory for sorting and processing; at the factory, the deliveries are blended and processed into day lots comprising the day’s deliveries. Cafe Import’s green buyer for Kenya typically takes up residency in Kenya during the harvest due to the sheer number of samples to be cupped and selects the best of these lots to purchase as microlots (fewer than 100 bags).
