Kenya Ngandu AB - Lamu Youth in Coffee project

This coffee comes from Rutuma Co-operative, and is a fully washed coffee processed at the Ngandu mill, one I have bought coffee from before. In this process, the fruit is removed from the beans, they soak overnight to ferment before being washed in fresh water to remove any dregs of the last of the fruit then sun dried. This gives the coffee its characteristic acidity and sweetness. Located on the fertile slopes of Mount Kenya, the factory is near the town of Karatina, in Kenya’s Nyeri County - one of Kenya’s most famous coffee districts.

Vava takes advantage of some under-utilised recent legislation in Kenya to be able to buy coffee directly from the co-operative rather than using the auction system in Nairobi that she so dislikes. She has to offer to at least match the auction price on the day though, meaning that pricing is very much left to market forces to decide. The massive up side to this is that the cooperative can keep the whole price she gives them, and the various marketing agents, auctioneers and other middlemen don’t dilute their share of the sale.

Vava Coffee dedicates 10% of the revenue from all coffee sales to funding the Lamu Youth in Coffee Project. The goal is to transform communities by providing economic opportunities.