Our third and final article signing off our 3-part sourcing series.
So, hopping back across the border Jan prepped for his short four day stay in Kenya, a county still shaken from the events of that January when Somali militants stormed a luxury hotel compound in Nairobi.
Just outside of the company’s capital is the town named Ruiru- the location of Bailies’ exporter Dorman’s coffee traders who would host the cuppings. Buyers must cup hundreds of coffees and narrow them down to their own preferences in a shortlist that's decided before the coffees then go to auction.
This intense environment sees many buyers tasting hundreds of coffees in a condensed period of two days. The coffees being tasted were from co-operative unions or farming societies, such as; Mutria Farming society, and brought to factories such as Kagumo factory, where they were all separated, labeled and completely traceable.
By the end of the tasting, Jan had narrowed down his favourites from quadruple digits to just eleven.
Jan's visit to Kenya was short and sweet; and with his coffee selections finalised, he headed back to Ethiopia through the desert to visit a roastery favourite- Hunkute.
Jan arrived to be impressed by the quality of the improvement programs in place.
Experts in dry mills; Hunkute is the most quality focused co-op we know of, producing excellent results.
As his trip drew to a close, Jan was satisfied in his purchase of 2 microlots and 1 single origin from both Ethiopia, and Kenya respectively- coffees that he was able to bring back to the roastery and eventually to our customers.
He was unsatisfied however, by his failure to locate something to eat! His effort to order roast chicken in red wine sauce was disappointing to say the least; the roast chicken arrived raw inside with a few unplucked feathers floating around the outside, not to mention the white ‘red wine’ sauce with a consistency which could only be described as goo…Injera it is.