Mwalimu Ndichu Kibe lives and farms on Ndiwa Estate in Nairobi in Kiambu county. He cultivates SL28 and Ruiru 11. His focus on high-quality coffee helps him produce this excellent Fully washed lot, which shines with currants, berries and herbs with a candy sweetness. Mwalimu Ndichu Kibe is a retired teacher who started coffee farming in 1965. He is the proud father of 8 children. His goal is to improve the quality of his coffee to better access markets and increase his livelihood. With more income from higher quality coffee, he would be better able to support his family.

Traditionally, many farmers of this size in the country did not own their own processing equipment. They have historically delivered cherry to a centralized cooperative-owned ‘Factory’ (as washing stations are called, locally), where their production is combined with that of others from their region. Mwalimu has his own, small wet mill where he is able to process his own coffee, ensuring full traceability back to his farm.

Cherry is selectively handpicked and then pulped. Coffee is then fermented for 18 hours in a small tank before being washed in clean water to remove any remaining mucilage. All wastewater from the washing process is cleaned to ensure environmental impact is limited.

Parchment is transferred to raised beds where it sundries for 7 to 21 days. Parchment is turned regularly to ensure even drying.

Even for farmers who may have their own processing setup, the dry-milling setup within Kenya does not well serve small-to-medium size farmers. Dry mills have lot minimums, which are usually about 50 bags of parchment per lot. This is often unattainable for smaller farmers, necessitating that they merge their lots with others, losing traceability, which in turn which lowers their overall returns and removes the potential for name recognition and direct-trade relationship.

To cater to single producer lots that are very small, Kahawa Bora/Sucafina has a separate microlot milling line that was custom-made to hull (remove the parchment from the green coffee beans) lots as small as one bag at a time. This line makes it possible for growers to maintain their own ‘brand’ when selling their coffee. We feel this is a push in the right direction for Kenyan growers to gain market access to quality-focused buyers overseas.