New Packaging

                                               Our new packaging is ready!

When we started we planned to roast each and every single order, the same day! Times have changed, our concept is working...and since we really on volunteer hours to build this thing up we have decided to change the packaging. We will still roast our coffees fresh, but once a week. This leaves us some extra time to cover other events, do our research and still learn. There is so much to learn and to research on...i believe i can do it, and if i cant let me fail in the attempt...
I am the coffee farmer, trader, roaster, quality control, researcher name it, we dont want to leave any stones unturned..i want to make sure that my community doesnt perish for lack of information. I want to make sure we are in par with the current certifications, the new farming technologies, we promised to deliver quality coffee as thats the only way we can guarantee good prices...

Forming Partnerships

Sustainability for my people will be achieved through formation of partnerships. This is our objective.
We embark today on various events in Germany that will see the formation of 'Municipal Partnerships between the German communities and our coffee producing communities. What this simply translates is that some specific communities in our project, will produce coffee for specific communities in Germany, who will consume this coffee. The partneship will be a Producer-Consumer relationship with great emphasize on producing the coffee under Fair Trade standards...Juhu! no more children as 'workforce' in my community; My many children are headed to school......some percentage of our revenue from this project we will donate to our partner www.kedovo.org - which is our Non-Profit Organisation ( foundation) that supports the sustainability programs in Kenya....

Please read all about the partnership under this link:

http://www.abendblatt.de/region/norderstedt/article120014904/Eine-Gemeinde-kocht-ihren-eigenen-Kaffee.html

Chania Coffee at Kirchenburgfest Lienzing

From the beginning of this journey, i vowed to do things differently. I am aware there will be hurdles, toes to step on but i believe in the beauty of simplicity. We will not go head on collision with the big players, we will curve our own little nich and build ourselves up from there....i have my 'gang'

This weekend we will hit the streets of Muhlacker in Baden Wuttenberg, Germany. We will present our coffees and ideas at the festival in Lienzing. Our approach is based on building Partnerships with Roasters and the communities in Germany; from this trust an partnerships, my people at home will be assured of a ready market for their produce through Fair prices....is that not Sustainability?

You see the children of these communities will be able to attend school, and who knows? one of them might even continue the work i have started when i get those grey hair :D and am walking with a walking stick...yes thats how long i will live!

The home of Chania coffee

Chania Coffee sun drying in the village of my birth; it reminds me of my childhood and the memory of my people. A lot of us at Chania remember our first cup of coffee...experience Chania Coffee yourself and join us in this Adventure...

 One can already see the dark clouds already circling the village of Ndurutu. Yes thats where i was born. I miss the coffee fields, i miss the chirpping of the weaver birds, as they jumped from one berry to another, i miss the singing of crickets at night...i miss my people.
We have the coffee harvesting season in June..my people will be sleeping tonight so tired from the fields, do not despair; there is hope after all..

Career Fair Cologne Germany

We visited the Career Fair in Cologne organised by Wangui Muhuthia of Mkenya Ujerumani mkenyaujerumani.de. She is an amazing lady with a passion for sustainable development through Education. She is hell bent to have the Kenyan diaspora and especially in Germany taking a serious path and seize the many opportunities offered in Germany's education system.

You can read about us under this link
http://mkenyaujerumani.de/2013/06/06/social-entrepreneur-creating-brand-awareness-for-kenyan-coffee/

It was a great day with lively discussion and  a challenge to the Kenyan community in Germany to start being focused on the way forward.

Rachel Mwakazi of mrangi.com and http://pamojaplatform.blogspot.de (my beverage sister)!! took us through the challenges of starting a business in Germany especially for Non-EU citizens, what to do and which offices to approach.

At the fair we decided to form a business forum, where we will be exchanging ideas on how towork towards accomplishing trade promotion and investment between Kenya and Germany and vice versa.


It was a great and inspiring event and we look forward to the next meetings.

The beginning of a long journey with our Arabicas

My community has been dissappointed for many year with the earnings ( if any ) from coffee cultivation.
Many of them cut down their coffee trees in the early 90's when the coffee prices fell down Internationally.
Hundrends of these farmers need a lot of conviction to replant again the coffee bushes. Many have abandoned the coffee farms or simply put up rental structures!

Our volunteer group in Kenya is comprised of youth and we have vowed to put back some sence into the coffee sector. Why cant it pay the farmers? is it not a business just like any other?

We took our jembes ( hoes) and headed back to the fields! Operation planting new coffee bushes!

You see we are tired of living from hand to mouth. We are tired of surviving on less than a Euro per day...we are tired of being statistics!!

The Coffee Research Foundation of Kenya has ben there since time immemorial. Why dont we put to use what those amazing researchers have been working on for years? Their findings are just covered with dust somewhere...
My grandmother is 88 years old, she is still a poor coffee farmer. We do not expect her to understand what CRF researched on...but we can!

Coffee variety SL 28 and SL 34 is what most of my community grows. This variety takes 3-4 years before you can harvest your first coffee bean! How many of you have a patience of 4 years?

In our research we discovered that CRF produced a new coffee variety called Batian.

''The variety known as Batian is high yielding and is expected to boost coffee production in the country. Batian is quick to establish, producing results after 18-24 months upon being planted, in addition to being suitable to all Arabica coffee growing areas.''The Variety is tall, high yielding, resistant to coffee berry disease and leaf rust''

Bingo!! Santa had come early!! is this not what we had been looking for?
a) A variety that took less time to mature?- you see my people had been dissapointed for too long; i couldnt get them to start toiling their land again and wait for 4 years: they wanted their money yesterday :(

b) For years they had struggled with the notorious leaf rust etc...these coffee diseases dug deep into their pockets..they had no more desire to get into debts any more !!We now had a solution, our future looked brighter!

So we got down to work....

 

Sustainable coffee farming

When we decided to embark on this journey, we didnt have a Trust fund or Government grant sitting somewhere waiting to be utilised.....but we didnt need any money! You see i do not believe in Aid or donations for Africa....Hell no! i believe in Enterprise. Africa is rich! and especially my community. They have the Land and Labour ( the most important aspects in this plan). All they lack is the facilitation to access the International markets. And you see that the Strength of Chania Coffee; i tell my friends- we have the best of both worlds, We Produce coffee and we happen to live in a country that consumes / exports a lot of coffee without having a single bush! I live near the City of Hamburg Germany-The biggest transition point for coffee in the world is Hamburg!!!

According to figures released by Kenya Coffee Traders Association in 2012, Germany exports 30% of Kenyan coffee... so Lets do the maths...

Every single homestead has an approximate of 150 coffee bushes each, coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after oil (Ponte 2002). With our plan we intend to train the farmers on proper coffee cultivation methods, using means that are within ecological and social limits....our projections will be that in a few years every coffee bush can produce minimum 20 kilos.
Hence 150x20 = 2250 kilos get a price of average 100kshs ( i will use the Kenyan currency; but its approximate 1 euro per kilo).Cost of production according to our research is it takes 30-35 shillings to produce 1 kilogram of cherry.
:100-35 = 65x2250 is a profit of 146,250  ksh shillings (1,400 euro). 
This may sound as not so much money to an European mind  but its a big step to these farmers who currently get an average of 25 shillings per kilo (0.25 euro cents) gross payments.
Still on our calculations, we have farmers who even have even the capability of producing even more than 5,000 kilos....the sky is their limit!

Now tell me, if every homestead was assured of a minimum of 1,500 euro per season ( we have 2 coffee seasons) would these communities really need Aid? Remember they practise subsistence farming of maize and beans alongside coffee, so they dont need to buy food! they own the land and the homesteads, they dont need to pay rent! the proceeds from the coffee would cater for amenities like School fees, medical care and even save something for their old age!

Now you get the drift.... is that not sustainability? is that not a solution for Africa by Africans?
And what if one coffee bush could attain 40 kilo production-ITS POSSIBLE!! it has actually been done and its being done even in other coffee producing countries!

You must be wondering why i am doing this, but hej! can you imagine the kids from my community being able to go to school without a worry in the world? Thats why am doing this....i want those kids to be in school...i did amid struggles; this is my gift to them!