Tim Wendelboe

Gachatha

5.0 / 5

The coffees from the Gachatha wet mill has consistently been among the best coffees I have tasted in Kenya over many years and because they produce such consistent high quality there is a big demand for these coffees. In my opinion the quality of the Kenyan coffees I tasted during my visit in February was really high and probably the best coffee year in recent times in Kenya. The coffees from Gachatha were no exceptions and I ended up buying two lots from Gachatha this year. Both lots were really outstanding in quality with complex ripe fruit flavours like mango and purple berries. I have visited the Gachatha wet mill several times and been amazed by how much training the cooperative gives to their farmers. They have their own demonstratiopn plot at the wet mill where they can train their members in good agricultural practices and they also grow seedlings of both coffee trees and shade trees that are distributed to their members. Although most members are still growing the traditional SL28 and SL34 cultivars, we know that they have been planting the new hybrid cultivars Ruiru 11 and a lot of Batian in the recent years. Still the coffee from Gachatha has the recognisable intense fruity flavours that I think of when I dream about delicious Kenyan coffees.