Searching for a needle in a haystack.

2020 marks our seventh trip to buy coffee directly in Kenya and it remains an intriguing challenge. With single producer lots virtually non-existent and the majority of Kenyan coffee controlled by a few big players, it's more difficult than other countries we source from. Instead, you must rely on your relationship with the right exporting partner, counting on them to show you the highest scoring, most traceable coffees. Timing is also a challenge, especially when you're planning your trip months in advance, hoping you're arriving at the best week to taste the most high quality options. Arrive too early and the best weeks of the harvest might not be available; arrive too late and all the best coffees may already be claimed. It's a bit of a battle, but Kenyan coffees are our absolute favorites and worth all the stress, long flights and risk.

This year we cupped for three days at Dormans and one day at KCCE in Nairobi. It was a marathon and we tasted well over 200 coffees before narrowing it down to our top eight selections. It's crucial to us that the coffees we select not only taste phenomenal, but we need to be able to know the story of the coffee back to the Cooperatives and Factories who grow the coffee. We require transparency through the producer, exporter and importer on all our coffees.