Nyeri coffee factory scoops award for best tea

Kenyan coffee is once again on the global map after four Kenyan coffee factories were voted the world’s best speciality coffee producers at a sampling event featuring 49 top-end samples in Charleston, South Carolina.

The Rainforest Alliance released the detailed scores at its bi-annual “cupping for quality” event that featured 49 coffee samples from a total of 60 coffees from eight countries.

Gachatha Coffee Factory in Nyeri County, clinched the first position among the top ten coffees dominated by Kenyan produce that also included coffee from Gicherori, Kamwangi and Ngerwe farms.
Gachatha, with 1,086 farmers each with an average 200 coffee trees, scored 88.68 points, while Embu County’s Gicherori and Kirinyaga County’s Kamwangi were tied at 85.25 points.

Ngerwe, also from Embu County, scored 84.89.The factory was Rainforest Alliance-certified on April 1.

AfriCert Ltd declared production of the coffee had complied with sustainable requirements in accordance with the farm and group administrator certification policy of January 2013, standards for sustainable agriculture, a version of the July 2010, Sustainable Agriculture Network group standards and had complied with a list of prohibited pesticides of November 2011.

During the 2014 crop year, Gacatha Coffee Factory turnover was Sh42 million from 472,550 kilos of coffee.

The earnings were far better than those of the previous year, with a Sh80 per kilo production cost and an 8.5 per cent operation cost.

The Rainforest Alliance established its cupping for quality programme in 2003 to link sustainable farming practices with coffee quality. The cuppings enable global coffee dealers to help farmers identify areas for improvement while ensuring better returns for coffee.