Gachatha Coffee Factory rests on a 392-acre piece of land between the villages of Muthuaini, Thiriku, Gachenge, and Kianjau.

The Gachatha Farmers’ Co-operative Society Ltd. Co-op was founded in 1963 and currently has 1,542 members. The factory treats all water in soak pits to ensure no contaminates run into the local waterways, which are a source for drinking water. The community also places great importance on protecting the indigenous trees that remain in the area so that the local bird life can be sustained.



Gachatha Coffee Factory experiences moderate bimodal rainfall and temperatures here range from 13 to 24C year round. The main varieties of coffee grown here are SL28, Batian, SL34 and Ruiru 11. The region has deep, fertile well-drained red volcanic soils which are ideal for coffee production.



After picking, ripe cherry is brought to the factory by smallholder farmers before it undergoes processing to remove the skin and pulp – known as the wet processing method. The factory is dependent on electrical pumps to move water to reservoir tanks before using it for processing, and water is recirculated for conservation. The factory uses a disc pulper with three sets of discs to remove the skin and fruit from the inner parchment layer that is protecting the green coffee. After pulping, the coffee is fermented overnight to break down the sugars before it is cleaned, soaked, and spread out on raised drying tables. Time on the drying tables depends on climate, ambient temperature and total production volumes currently undergoing processing.


We’ve been fans of the Gachatha Factory for years now, and plan to expand our offerings from Kenya in the coming harvests. There seems to be a disconnect with coffee from Kenya, as coffee buyers hold them in extremely high regard, but for whatever reason that regard isn’t maintained throughout the chain. Our hope is that incredible coffees like this one will garner more appreciation for coffees from Kenya.

This lot comes from the Cooperative Departmental Cafeteria de Cundinamarca who work with smallholder producers in the highest elevations of the Venecia Municipality of Cundinamarca. Producers who contributed to this lot tend to farms at 1,800 - 2,100 meters above sea level which provides the perfect conditions for specialty coffee.

Cundinamarca hasn’t garnered the same level of renown as some of the other regions in Colombia, but we have seen some incredible coffees come out of the region from a number of producers, and we’re happy to share this one with you. Venecia is a diverse and unsurprisingly beautiful place, with the nearby Sumapaz River, and varied reliefs that include plains, ravines, high hills, undulating plateaus and high mountains, the latter where there are 4,149 hectares of coffee cultivated mostly by smallholder producers. This entirely sun-dried lot is well-rounded. In the cup we get a bit of juiciness and a robust sweetness with notes of almond, blackberry, and maple syrup.

Adado has become a household name amongst the houses of coffee buyers. The Adado Washing Station is named after the kebele (village) where you’ll find it: Adado Kebele, Bule Woreda, Gedeo Zone, in the SNNPR state of Ethiopia. Coffee trees evolved for the microclimates of the Ethiopian Highlands like Adado. This is highlighted by the fact that coffee growers here often simply grow coffee as a backyard cash crop, selling cherries to the washing station in their village, and it’s still some of the highest scoring coffees you can find. Farmers here often intercrop with other cash crops and subsistence agriculture. These other crops typically include False Banana, Sugarcane, Corn, and Barley. The region was given the nickname “Misty Valley” by coffee buyers who noticed a heavy mist that would regularly sweep through the region (similar to the famous “bajareque” mists of Boquete, Panama).

This is a specialty selection from 29 small holder producers in the town of Pasajquim. The families who contribute to this lot have been farming coffee for generations in this region. This organic coffee relies on nature for everything, from the nutrient dense volcanic soil and the Gravel and Chalum trees providing shade, to the water source of the nearby lake Atitlán. Our export and milling partner coordinates this lot from small holder farmers who farm 1/2 hectare on average. The farmers of this region have learned to handle their own wet milling, using manual depulpers, and drying the beans on their patios. After this, coffee is delivered to Dinamica in Guatemala City where lot creation takes place before coffees are prepared for export by destoning, hulling, and then final color and screen size sorting.

This is a super approachable coffee, it’s an elevated version of what our parents are accustomed to. We get the sweetness of toffee, a hint of comforting toast (from the volcanic soil), and a finish of chocolate.