Lolly Drop Espresso

I fell hard for Rukira back in 2016, the first time I tasted it. It was all locked up by other buyers then, so I waited patiently and snagged a small amount in 2017. Now I'm the longest-term buyer of the coffee, and I get first pick of the best lots. This season I cupped a lot of Kenyan samples, and fewer of them met my quality standards than I'd hoped. Rukira did, so I bought the entire peaberry lot!

So what is a peaberry? A coffee cherry usually holds two seeds, growing face to face, flat side against flat side. Once in a while only one seed grows, and it fills the space as a single small, round bean. That's a peaberry. At the mill they get sorted out by shape and size into a lot of their own. Lots of people (me included) find they taste a little more intense, and in an espresso like Lolly Drop that's a real treat.

Rukira's factory manager is George Waweru (pictured). I met George in February 2024, just after he was promoted from milling machine operator, and right away he stood apart from other managers I've met in Kenya. He has an effervescence that was so refreshing. He's been toiling at Rukira since 2002. That's not a typo. I do mean over 20 years! He's eager to learn and develop, and in his caring hands I'm heartened for every season of Rukira.

The big challenge in Kenya is still the weather, and mostly that means rain. Climate change has made it more erratic over the last decade. The rain is sometimes missing when it's needed for flowering, and then it arrives when it's not wanted, while the coffee is drying or sitting in storage. It's hard to keep things dry in the rain! This season my approvals came later than I like, and Nairobi was rainy and humid, so I asked KCCE to protect the coffee during its final sorting. They did the hand-picking on surfaces layered with plastic sheeting, keeping it away from the damp air as much as they could. I really appreciate that kind of care.

On to Othaya Co-op in general, their superpower is that they are vertically integrated. They run their own dry mill, and their export arm, Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters (KCCE for short), sells the coffee. What I love about KCCE is that they operate with a fully transparent pricing structure. They take a fixed 2% fee from the total price paid by buyers. This is completely contrary to other marketing agents and exporters, who take varying and non-transparent amounts from the sale price of each coffee.

I didn't make it to Kenya this season, and I really missed it. Next season I plan to be back in person, and I can't wait to catch up with George and walk around Rukira again.

-Phil