PROFILE Zesty and Wild
NOTES OF Grapefruit, Golden Kiwi, Brown Sugar
ROAST Light Roast for Filter Brewing
ABOUT
David Murathe cultivates his SL varieties at Waturi Estate in Thika, Murang'a. The farm sits at an elevation of 1800 masl. The high altitudes provide warm, sunny days and cool nights that promote sweet, dense cherry. The cooler weather also minimises the number of pests and diseases that affect coffee trees. David receives regular training from KenyaCof in good agricultural practices, which helps him to keep his small farm in optimal condition. His years of working with KenyaCof have enabled him to improve yields and quality, and he looks forward to his hard work paying off by creating new relationships with roasters like Seven Seeds.
Waturi is categorised as a small estate in Kenya. Traditionally, many farmers of this size in the country did not own processing equipment. Instead, they deliver cherry to a centralised cooperative-owned factory where their production is combined with others from their region. However, David owns a small wet mill where he can process his coffee, ensuring full traceability back to his farm. Even for farmers who may have their own processing set up, the dry-milling situation within Kenya does not serve small-to-medium-size farmers well. Dry mills have a lot of minimums, usually about 50 bags of parchment per lot, which is often unattainable for smaller farmers. Farmers merge their lots to meet these minimums, losing traceability, lowering their overall returns and removing the potential for name recognition and direct-trade relationship.
To cater for single producer lots that are very small, Kahawa Bora Mill (operated by KenyaCof) has a separate micro-lot milling line that was custom-made to hull lots as small as one bag at a time. This line allows growers to maintain their brand when selling their coffee. This is a push in the right direction for Kenyan growers to gain market access to quality-focused buyers overseas like Seven Seeds.
SOURCING
ORIGIN Thika, Murang'a, Kenya
PRODUCER David Murathi
VARIETIES SL-14, SL-28, SL-34
PROCESS Fully Washed
ALTITUDE 1800 masl
PARTNERS KenyaCof
QUALITY SCORE 87.75
HISTORY Second Year of Purchasing
LOT SIZE 120 kgs
HARVEST November - January