The 2022/23 season marked Kingori’s last as factory manager, and I want to say more about this great coffee man, but first, I want to let you know about the coffee of Mahiga.
There is plenty of great coffee in Kenya, but what sets Mahiga apart from the rest is a dense sweetness and a tropical flavor with just a touch of lovely fresh tomato. It is intense and perfumed but balanced with a thick, velvety mouthfeel. It helps greatly that most of the coffee destined for Mahiga is the SL34 variety, which is really the best coffee variety that Kenya has to offer.
Kingori put in his time. He’s 61, and he’s been managing wet mills for his whole adult life. He told me he wants to spend more time with his three daughters (in their 20s) and spend time on his coffee farm. That’s right, Kingori is a coffee farmer too! He told me that he will continue to bring his 2000 kg of coffee cherry to Mahiga each year, so we do still get to enjoy his coffee for years to come!
On to Othaya Co-op in general, their superpower is that they are vertically integrated. So, while some factories are changing their marketing agent or milling partner from season to season, Othaya has its mill, and they founded a cooperative-owned marketing agency to market and export their coffee. This coffee is called Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters (KCCE for short). What I love about KCCE is that they operate with a fully transparent pricing structure. They take a fixed 2% fee from the total price paid by buyers. This is completely contrary to other marketing agents and exporters, who take varying and non-transparent amounts from the sale price of each coffee.
- Phil
