Coffee Farms Tour: agro-tourism centres in Kenya. Explore the plantations, learn about coffee farming, and enjoy the finished product in a picturesque setting.
Fairview Coffee Estate
The story of Kenyan coffee begins in the soil. The iron-rich volcanic soils of the central highlands have been producing high-quality coffee for many years. Kiambu’s Fairview Coffee Estate is a stunning estate fed by the Riara River. The farm opened its doors to tourists in view of visiting and learning more about coffee. The estate’s ownership has been changing hands for over 80 years. However, they have always applied holistic methods while farming their coffee.
Meet the farm’s coffee promotion expert, who, above all, is eloquent and very knowledgeable in matters concerning coffee. Upon arrival at the farm, you will be given some water bottles. This is in preparation for a lot of walking in the picturesque, lush gardens with a myriad of beautiful flowers.
Plantation walk
Start your way to the plantations and get to see the Arabica coffee plant. The farm, which covers 44 hectares, is divided into plantation blocks. You may see a white, ash-like substance sprinkled on the soil and agricultural lime that balances the pH of the soil. The coffee plant is very hardy, and the plants here are about 250–300 years old. One plant of coffee demands so much care, and because the plant is very bushy. They have to keep pruning, even cutting off the shoots and removing extra leaves. This is to ensure that the plant has some vigour and produces big beans.
Only two to three stalks/stems should be left, and after some time, they are cut, giving way to younger, more rigorous ones. They also use the least amount of chemicals. They use the contact method of applying pesticides, which involves applying the pesticide to the affected leaves, and they ensure none of the chemicals go to the fruits. You will be interested in organic farming and impressed that this farm has excelled in it. They have many farmers who work on the property during harvesting, and they only pick the ripe red berries. It would be hard to use machine harvesting because machines harm the plant and cannot differentiate between ripe and unripe berries. Most workers are women, and the company has a nursery school for women with small babies to take them to as they work on the farm.
Harvesting
You’ll try harvesting, the berries, which will be pulped to remove the skins. The skins are then taken to a compost pit and used as manure so that they can recycle the nutrients back to the coffee plant. Each berry has two beans and each bean has a hard protective husk. The coffee beans are graded in size and weight, and they are fermented and washed. They are then graded for a second time. Then the are soaked in tanks to improve the quality and this process goes on for 16 hours. They are dried on tables depending on their grades and hand-sorted to remove ‘bad’ beans. They are then husked and milled. Some of the coffee is sent to private buyers, exports, and the Nairobi Coffee Exchange.
Roast and taste.
After learning so much in the field, you will be led to the coffee lab where blended, roasted and ground coffee is tasted (very similar to wine tasting) under the expert guidance of the barrister of the estate. Soon you will then assemble on the beautiful lawns outside the house to have coffee, fruit and snacks. Do not think the trip is over, but you still have a long way to go now that you replenished your energy. You’ll hike, walk into the forest, walk through a eucalyptus plantation and dip your feet into the river. Also visit a great waterfall, walk through a banana farm, visit a field of cows, go bird watching, and go to the farm’s dam. There is so much to do. In return, you have a chance to buy the finest blend and branded Fairview Coffee. The coffee comes in the prettiest African print bag.
Tips for the Trip
Carry comfortable shoes.
Carry light clothing (depending on prevailing weather).
Bring enough snacks and water, but they will give you snacks, coffee, water, and fruit.
Carry money to buy extra bags of coffee.
All Seasons Coffee Farm
All Seasons Coffee Farm is located off Kiambu Road, 10km from the city centre. Here, you learn everything about coffee, from the bush farm to the cup. You will get to roast your coffee and taste your freshly brewed premium Kenyan coffee as you enjoy the picturesque view of the coffee farm.
The high-grown Kenya Arabica coffee is ranked one of the world’s finest. Any connoisseur of coffee will know the initial taste sensation of the Kenya coffee bean to be a snappy, rich, well-balanced flavour.
Conception.
The coffee trees on the farm were planted in the 1920s–1930s. The variety of trees at the time was SL 28 and SL 43. They are drought-resistant trees but are susceptible to diseases such as leaf rust, and coffee berry disease. New varieties have been introduced on the farm to replace some of the old trees.
They are the Ruiru 11 and Batian varieties. The Ruiru 11 is more disease-resistant and produces many berries at harvest. Meanwhile, the Batian variety is disease-resistant as well as drought-resistant.
The coffee picking seasons are from March to May (early crop) and October to December (late crop).
Mbumi Coffee Farm started its value-added arm of roasting and packing coffee in 2015. The processed coffee is available for purchase at the farm. It can also be delivered across the country and anywhere in the world.
The farm introduced coffee tours in 2017 in response to the interest received from people wanting to learn more about coffee. The tour involves a walk through the farm and then roasting and sampling coffee. Coffee growing was introduced in the Kiambu region in the 1920s by the European settlers. Indigenous Africans were only allowed to grow coffee later in the 1950’s under strict supervision.
After Kenya gained independence in 1963, many European farmers eventually sold their farms and returned to their home countries. Mbumi Coffee Farm was bought in the 1970’s and has continued to remain a family business into the 2nd generation.
