Coffee growers that we work with

Our first stop was at Barichu Farmers Cooperative Society Ltd is situated in Karatina town, apprx.150 kms from the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi. It has 5,017 total active members.
All of them are small-scale coffee farmers with an average of 150 coffee bushes per farm.
These farmers really on coffee production for their livelihood. 
Alongside coffee, they practise subsistence farming of maize and beans.

We met the Chairman Mr.Wachira Mwago, a few days after we arrived in Kenya. We took our Kenyan team from Kedovo organisation as they are the youth group that facilitates the Program of sustainable coffee farming for my community. They had been doing a splendid job for over a year, and we was ready to hear and see the impact of their work among the communities. We also needed to ship a full container load from Barichu Cooperative.
We do not purchase the coffee from the Auction, we deal direct with the Cooperatives through the Direct Trade method as gazetted by the minister for Agriculture n 2006. That way we can pay our farmers a much higher price for their work....we work together towards sustainability for these communities.

We had a long discussion with Wachira on Organic coffe growing solutions etc.

The Chania Coffee farmers

16 hours later after my departure from Hamburg, Germany i arrived home.

I came home to pick coffee....

 I came home back to my people so we could mill and ship the coffee that was ready to Hamburg. The Safmarine vessel was docking in Mombasa within a week. Our coffee container had to be on that vessel.... The future looked bright! there was hope after all.......

We didnt come to experience a one time opportunity of being able to ' pick coffee and follow its journey from tree to cup' oh no.. we came because we know how much work is put behind each and every cup of morning coffee that we all take for granted.

We wasnt coming home for that, no it wasnt about picking coffee...we was coming to strengthen our partnership and relationship with our farmers..

pick coffee and follow its journey from tree to your cup - See more at: http://blog.greenmountaincoffee.com/blog/contributor/my-journey-to-source-nicaragua#sthash.wUSwL87L.dpuf

pick coffee and follow its journey from tree to your cup - See more at: http://blog.greenmountaincoffee.com/blog/contributor/my-journey-to-source-nicaragua#sthash.wUSwL87L.dpuf

We came home to our farmers to continue discussing and implementing the concept of sustainable coffee farming-i needed them to know that the concept didnt have an end; it was going to be there for years to come- we had taken the first baby steps, what we needed is to know where we were set to go, things could only get better...

pick coffee and follow its journey from tree to your cup - See more at: http://blog.greenmountaincoffee.com/blog/contributor/my-journey-to-source-nicaragua#sthash.wUSwL87L.dpuf

pick coffee and follow its journey from tree to your cup - See more at: http://blog.greenmountaincoffee.com/blog/contributor/my-journey-to-source-nicaragua#sthash.wUSwL87L.dpuf

We are in Dubai!!

All that Gold!! my God, i will put a dent on my Credit Card :( :( I love Gold......well i just have to sell more coffee!!

This xmas tree at the Airport in Dubai was just too pretty....

You see in my county when i was growing up, we didnt have those 'plastic' China import christmas trees...we used to just go to the shamba and cut a twig of Cider tree- that is if we were lucky to celebrate xmas at all!
We would then decorate the christmas tree with baloons of all colours, and use cotton wool 'to represent snow' lol! we had no Santa to leave gifts for us underneath the xmas-tree...we just hoped my mother would have saved some money for her to make Chapatis and meat stew for christmas.

6 more hours and i will be home Moma....

We are going to pick coffee!!!

So this week we decided to pack our bags and head to Kenya. The next couple of weeks will be spent with the amazing farmers who produce our coffee.

I will take part of my crew with me. 

The main coffee harvesting season in Kenya is ongoing. Kenya coffee production has 2 seasons :
May-July is what we call fly or early crop.
Sept-Dec is the main / late crop.
This is the time that the 'work force' is required. Its taken me a lot of effort and trainings to my community that 'my' children have to be in school. I know we have school holiday but that doesnt give any justification for those childrn to be picking coffee in the fields, i rather have them playing football or spending the day at the river; for this project to work, we must all stay united against child labour.

Kaltenkirchen weekend market

Every saturday we will be available at the Kaltenkirchen Wochenmarkt.
Our coffee will be available for sale as well as taking our customers through 'the magical coffee growing areas of Nyeri Kenya.

We will have various Kenyan coffee roasted in different profiles for the clients to 'taste'  ( the right word is cupping) and explore Kenya!!

Partnerships

This is our key word at Chania Coffee.

Its a word that both my worlds can understand. We simply dont just sell coffee; we  form Partnerships with our Producers, the Roasters, the Municipalities, the Consumers...name it. We want all to have a 'sence of belonging' in Chania Coffee, because we are family!

Through Engagement Global...we was honoured today to attend the  '2nd Conference for Municipal Partnerships with Africa' Conference in Hamburg.
We met amazing people there. New contacts and networks were established...we keep on learning.

It  was a great experience...and guess which Municipality is the Partner for Hamburg? My neighbours from Daresaalam Tanzania!! it was great to speak 'pure' swahili for a long time. It reminded me of my youthful days in Arusha when i worked for a milk company...it took me back in time climbing Mt.Kilimanjaro and stopping at Tretoria for a warm bowl of banana soup...the meeting took me back home to my people; back to jirani, ndugu, because those are the words my good neighbours from Tanzania, were using. But most of all seeing the Tanzanian delegation there, so happy in their own way, made me realise that my dream of sustainable livelihoods for my community would come...i might not be able to change their lives but my little contribution is the change we all wish for.

The Tanzanias through their partnership with the municipal of Hamburg got their own 'place/ space' named after their city.....'Dar-es-Salaam Platz.

It was amazing, my Tanzanian neighbours have come a long way in development work......go go TZ!!

i got to meet the  Lord Mayor of Daresaalam, Tanzania Dr.Didas Massaburi and his entrouge.We exchanged notes regarding The Millennium Developmental Goals/ Sustainable Development Goals (MDG/SDG) and their implementation at the local level. You see for these partnerships to work its important that the local people be involved from the onset of the program, their interpretation and decision making is very important...its crucial that the local people find a solution / a way for tackling their predicament...without being told what to do...Dr Massaburi is one kind of a guy that can talk forever..i might go to Tanzania one of these days if my Credit card allows ;)

Amazing people

Today marked a new beginning in our coffee Adventure...along the way we have met amazing people; Quijote Kaffee is one of those great partners in this journey, and he will be roasting all our coffees to guarantee the lush tropical fruits aromas that is distinctive of Kenyan Coffees!!

 Pingo of Quijote Kaffee making sure that Chania Coffee achieves the best results in a cup.

We are blessed to have met amazing people along our work. People who are dedicated to support us to bring the change that is needed in the coffee supply chain. People with the same values of Transparency...

 And off to cupping! Remember Chania Coffee and Quijote Kaffee have one thing in common: Bringing real value to the coffee producers whilst preserving the Integrity and Cultivation of coffee and the relationship with the roasters- we build relationships.