Kenya is one of the regular destinations on our agenda, and with the idea of ​​working closely with producers and intermediaries, fully understanding the traceability and the system under which they operate, we landed in Nairobi ready to taste the hundreds of fresh coffees that awaited us there.

Coming from Europe, Nairobi is a truly surprising destination. A multitude of cars, motorcycles, people, and animals converge on dirt roads and unfinished streets, creating a picturesque landscape. Getting used to the hours-long traffic jams trying to cross the city by car isn't easy, but luckily there's no shortage of entertainment.

Another thing that requires some time is fully understanding the Kenyan coffee system. Buying and selling coffee cherries is illegal in Kenya, so producers must first hire a processing service (to process their cherries) and then a marketing service (which will handle exports), preventing them from having complete control over their coffee. Therefore, producers can initially join cooperatives that own wet mills where they will process their coffee alongside batches from other producers with similar profiles and characteristics; or, in some cases (a minority), producers will have access to small facilities built by local small-scale producers where they will process their own cherries.

Finally, for the buyer, the acquisition of coffee in Kenya must be done through marketing agents directly or, as is the case in most instances, through the local weekly auction, administered by the Nairobi Coffee Exchange.

The auctions are held every Tuesday, and samples are prepared beforehand so that interested parties can collect and taste them before making a purchase. The traders who offer the coffees at auction also provide a list with extensive information about each lot, ensuring transparency and traceability despite not having a direct relationship with the producers. Let's look at an example:

These records are giving us information about the origin and characteristics, and through these codes we can find out, for example, the marked batch:

• 2017/2018: is the coffee season year, starting in October and extending until September.
• 13: number of the week in which the producer delivers his cherries, with 1 being the first week of October.
• NG: abbreviation for dry benefit.
• 0027: control number that gives the dry benefit.
• OSINDI/CA0131: these marks inform us of the wet mill that processed it and therefore the area of ​​origin of the coffee.
• AB: indicates the grade according to the Kenyan classification scale.
• 66+55: batch size, in this case 66 full sacks + plus one 55kg sack.

The starting prices for the lots offered at auction will be set by the marketing agent the producer has chosen to work with and will be agreed upon between them. However, the agent will have a realistic benchmark based on their experience and the quality control of each lot they market. These marketing agents will strive to secure good prices and clients; otherwise, producers may choose to work with a different marketing agent the following year.

What we've observed on this second visit to Kenya is that a movement is beginning to emerge among producers to try to break away from cooperatives and process their own plots individually. To this end, they are gradually investing in small washing facilities on their own farms, which will allow them to have complete control over the quality of their coffee and receive payment more quickly, as this is one of the problems they encounter when joining cooperatives that can have more than 7,000 members.

Although this movement is slowly gaining momentum, at Right Side Coffee we always focus on direct contact with the producer, within the limits of the system and each origin. That's why this year we've selected four incredible lots with high traceability, and to top it all off, one of them comes from two small producers who have joined forces to process and work their own coffee, giving us the opportunity to establish a direct relationship that we can strengthen year after year.

So we're kicking off Kenyan coffee season once again by sharing with you complex lots with a variety of flavors that will make it impossible for you to get bored.