About This Coffee
This Tandala Wakulima Ndogo lot is the embodiment of our commitment to building sustainable supply chains and supporting producer resilience by purchasing as much of our farmer-partners' production as possible.
While technically a C-grade blend, We have selected very high-cupping A and AB lots from small estate partners working with KENYACOF (Sucafina in Kenya). We’ve blended their A, AB and C-grades - which are usually sold at far lower prices - into a single blends that's cupping excellently. With Tandala, you get many of those Kenyan attributes you are looking for at a fraction of the price. Plus, it’s fully traceable and farmers get higher returns on their whole harvest. It’s a win-win for everyone.
The blend is traceable back to the two small estates and one growers’ group that contributed to it. We also purchased the AA, AB & PB lots individually from the farmers who contributed to this Tandala blend.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Cherry is selectively handpicked and then sorted. Once sorted, ripe, red cherry is added straight to the hopper and pulped using a disk pulper and fermented overnight. Parchment is washed with clean water to remove any remaining mucilage.
Wet parchment is sorted and any damaged beans that remain are removed. Then, parchment is moved to raised beds to finish drying. Here, it is turned regularly to ensure even drying and covered at the hottest part of the day and overnight to prevent cracking and/or condensation. Workers will also regularly inspect drying parchment and remove any damaged beans. Drying takes approximately 14 to 29 days, depending on the weather at the time.
Once dry, parchment is delivered to Kahawa Bora Millers, one of our Sister Companies in Kenya. The mill has the capacity to mill smaller lots separately to help preserve quality and traceability.
Supporting Whole-Farm Sustainability
C lots are flush with untapped potential. Every A and AB lot that is purchased has a C-grade lot that is its counterpart (this can be up to 17% of every ‘outturn’ - or milled lot of parchment). However, quality-focused farmers like the ones with whom we work are often unable to sell their C lots at value-added prices, even though they have the potential to be of high cup quality. We are excited to mine this treasure trove of affordable, high-quality coffees.
Our size and the diversity of our offerings allow us to work with growers to purchase and market the entirety of their production. We can help find a place for every coffee, ensuring whole farm sustainability. Our focus is on quality, but we also know that every producer needs to sell their entire crop and not just the top microlots.
Coffee in Kenya
Though coffee growing had a relatively late start in Kenya, the industry has gained and maintained a impressive reputation. Since the start of production, Kenyan coffee has been recognized for its high-quality, meticulous preparation and exquisite flavors. Our in-country sister company, Sucafina Kenya, works with farmers across the country to ensure these exceptional coffees gain the accolades they deserve.
Today, more than 600,000 smallholders farming fewer than 5 acres compose 99% of the coffee farming population of Kenya. Their farms cover more than 75% of total coffee growing land and produce nearly 70% of the country’s coffee. These farmers are organized into hundreds of Farmer Cooperative Societies (FCS), all of which operate at least one factory. The remainder of annual production is grown and processed by small, medium and large land estates. Most of the larger estates have their own washing stations.
Most Kenyan coffees are fully washed and dried on raised beds. The country still upholds its reputation for high quality and attention to detail at its many washing stations. The best factories employ stringent sorting practices at cherry intake, and many of them have had the same management staff in place for years.