In June last year at the World of Coffee expo in Athens I was very happy to meet Anastasiia Shishkina from Plot Coffee, the import company from pioneer Hamburg specialty roasters Elbgold. Their philosophy of choosing to support individual producers every year, contracting entire containers of coffee from them and, therefore, allowing a certain level of financial security not always possible from smaller boutique import companies, really spoke to me. Once back in Munich and planning new coffees for the year, I contacted Anastasiia and got a number of samples.
The Kenyan samples were all fantastic, showing a return to the vibrant & juicy Kenyan flavour profiles that were lost for a couple of years. Of the 7-8 samples we had, there was one coffee that shone in every cupping we did before final selection, a peaberry grade coffee from the Mahiga Factory in Nyeri. Mahiga is a member of the Othaya Farmers Cooperative Society and serves 400 of the 15,000 overall members of the Othaya Society. We have had a coffee from Othaya before, which was also a beautiful coffee, so it was nice to see the quality of their coffees standing out on the cupping table once again.
Expect a beautifully clean and juicy cup, with long lasting blackcurrant fruitiness and complex green tea overtones.
Here's some general information about the society:
“Empowering Coffee Farmers Through Value Addition” – Othaya Farmers Cooperative Society Statement
Othaya Farmers Cooperative Society is an organization of 19 small wet mills (known as “factories,”) in and around the town of Othaya in Nyeri county. The society was registered in 1956 with 250 farmers and has since grown to over 15,000 members. Many factors make Othaya extraordinary, chief among them strong social unity, a holistic approach to business management and a progressive view towards quality control throughout the supply chain. The society has a nursery and farm store to supply its members with inputs, equipment and seedlings. Farm management workshops are offered regularly, and factory managers are routinely trained on wet mill best practices. Othaya has sample roasting and cupping facilities at the Gatuyaini factory, and society staff cup samples of every lot delivered during the harvest season. Also at Gatuyaini factory is a complete dry milling installation, allowing the society to manage even the parchment hulling sorting and grading elements of their operation.
All photos © Plot Coffee 2023