Meet Simon Mwangi

How did you get into coffee?

I was born and raised in Nyeri country, a coffee-growing region in Central Kenya. Coffee is the main cash crop here so I was used to tending the crop with guidance from my grandpa. My grandpa was also employed by a coffee company in Nairobi and whenever he returned from working there he’d bring roasted and ground coffee to share among family members. I remember my mum preparing the coffee and we’d all enjoy the unique taste. It was a novelty because we were all used to drinking tea.

I used to ask my grandpa all sorts of questions about how the coffee was prepared, what made the taste unique and, more importantly, why coffee consumption in Kenya was so low even when so many people were coffee growers. He would explain many things but my curiosity kept growing so he promised to introduce me to the world of coffee. When I was older, he connected me with a job opening in the company he worked for and I joined during peak season. In the position I got to meet cupping experts. All their knowledge and specific terminology were like music to my ears and only further enhanced my interest and passion for coffee. I haven’t looked back since.

What are your main jobs?

My main task is quality control and managing the quality department. We receive coffee samples from different marketers and our job is to analyze, classify and cup (taste) each coffee. We then decide what to buy for our clients. After buying at the auction (or direct), we may blend depending on our clients’ expectations and commitment.

Once purchased and blended (if needed), we send different samples to our client either as pre-shipment samples (PSS) for approval (if the coffee was contracted) or offer samples of what we have in stock to sell the coffee to clients. We may also send type samples that demonstrate what is available in the market that we can then match to a specific lot if the client approves them.

Once the PSS is approved, we send instructions to the warehouse to start the pre-shipment process. This also includes processing to remove defects, done either through handpicking by seasonal employees at Kahawa Bora Dry Mill or color sorting by the color sorter machine. After processing, they send samples for further analysis and, if the coffee is ready to proceed, we send our approval and instruct them to process the coffee and prepare it for shipment.

There are 11 registered marketing agents who are allocated a maximum of 300 lots that they can offer/sell per week’s auction. This means that during peak season we received around 1,000 lots - plus about 100 direct sale samples - each week. In total, we receive about 1,100 lots per week during the peak season and about 550 lots during the off-season. On average, we cup about 750 lots per week, which totals to over 32,000 lots annually!

What inspires you?

The satisfaction of guiding and mentoring QC staff who are passionate about coffee and seeing them improve their skills, especially when they sit for coffee-related exams and pass. Also, I’m excited when we get sample approvals from clients and get inspired about all the hard work that happens behind the scene of analyzing, buying and blending different lots according to our clients’ specifications.

What’s something interesting about you?

I love traveling, especially in rural areas where I can interact with other farmers either of coffee, dairy or horticulture. In addition to coming from a coffee-growing family and working in coffee, I am also a small-scale farmer who is a proud owner of about 100 trees that produce 1,000+ kg of cherry yearly.