Kabingara - Kenya
Kabingara - Kenya

CleverCoffee

Kabingara - Kenya

Sale price1.629 DKK

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This washed coffee from Kirinyaga, Kenya, is bursting with fruity nuances and juicy sweetness. Grown in challenging conditions but with a process that highlights the classic, vibrant Kenyan character.

  • Origin: Kenya
  • Processing: Washed
  • Tasting notes: Juicy and complex with notes of kiwi, raspberry, rosehip and rose water

Omni-roasted coffee beans - brew any way you like

Title:4 kg
Quantity:
Typical delivery: 1-2 business days 4.9 ★★★★★ on Trustpilot Pay with Mobilepay Exceptionally Good Customer Service

B Corp
Certified ✔
67% better payment
Documented ✔
Agroforestry
Read more ✔
Supply chain
Documented ✔

CleverCoffee is a certified B Corp.

The coffee you buy at CleverCoffee leaves a well-documented, positive impact on the world.

In our opinion, B Corp certification is the world's most stringent third-party verification, guaranteeing that you are buying your coffee from a responsible company.

When we were certified in 2021, we were only company number 30 in Denmark. Today there are more than 100.

The B Corp certification verifies our work in:

  • Environment
  • Social (Workers/Community/Customers)
  • Governance

We thus have extensive documentation that we use our primary business to create a positive impact on the world.

As a customer at CleverCoffee, you contribute to ensuring that coffee farmers can live a life above the poverty line and that they can afford to develop their farms so that they have a long-term source of income.

In addition to contributing positively to the living conditions of coffee farmers, CleverCoffee's B Corp certification is your assurance that we always source our coffee responsibly and with the environment in mind.

What was our score?

When we were certified back in 2021, we received the following score:

  • Governance 15.7
  • Workers 20.0
  • Community 27.2
  • Environment 25.2
  • Customers 0.0

Total: 88.2

We have begun the recertification process in 2024. Due to new initiatives and progress, we expect a significant increase in points for our new certification.

Documentation

B Corp: CleverCoffee

We paid the coffee farmer 67% more for this coffee

...in comparison, Fairtrade certified coffee typically has a premium of less than 10% for the farmer. And the certification is not free either.

Research shows time and again that certifications such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance have no demonstrable positive effect on the living conditions of coffee farmers. (Cordes and Sagan, 2021)

Western coffee companies are making huge profits while coffee farmers around the world live in poverty. This is wrong, and we need to change that.

That's why we pay more for the coffee beans we import.

44% of coffee farmers worldwide still live in poverty. At least 5.5 million coffee farmers live below the international poverty line of $3.20 a day. Studies show that one-third of coffee farmers earn less than $100 annually from coffee production (Enveritas, 2018; Sachs et al., 2019).

When we pay farmers more, we give them the opportunity to invest in themselves and their businesses. This leads to further growth and the opportunity to invest in more sustainable farming practices such as reducing water use and reforestation projects.

The calculation:

We paid the farmer: 8.8 $/kg

The market price at the time of the contract was: $5.28/kg

This means we have paid the farmer 67% more than the market price.

Documentation

See the complete overview of the payments we have made for our coffee beans in our annual transparency report: CleverCoffee: Transparency Report

Sources

"Responsible Coffee Sourcing: Towards a Living Income for Producers" (Cordes and Sagan, 2021)

"Why do coffee farmers stay poor? : Breaking vicious circles with direct payments from profit sharing" (Ruben, 2023)

"Six Transformations to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" (Sachs et al., 2019)

This coffee is grown in agroforestry

This roughly means that the coffee plants are shaded by other trees and plants. Agroforestry is the opposite of what is called “monoculture”, where you have a field that only consists of one type of plant, for example coffee plants.

In a forest farm, the coffee plants are part of a system with animals and plants that live naturally in the area.

There are many different types of agroforestry. There can be different amounts of shade cover, different degrees of diversity in plants and animals, and one can, for example, talk about having several different layers of shade cover, with trees that have their crowns at different heights and thus several layers.

Why agroforestry?

Since 1990, an estimated 420 million hectares of forest have been cleared and converted to agriculture, including coffee plantations. Although the rate of deforestation has slowed in recent decades, significant deforestation continues. About 10 million hectares of forest are cleared each year - an area the size of Iceland.

Therefore, we need to do something.

Forestry is a really good solution for both having food production and at the same time taking care of our ecosystems and climate.

Here are just some of the benefits of agroforestry:

  • Increases biodiversity
  • Absorbs much more CO2 from the atmosphere
  • Minimizes the need for fertilizer
  • Make coffee plants more resilient
  • Extends the life of the coffee plant
  • Gives the coffee a higher quality and better taste, as the coffee cherries take longer to ripen in the shade
  • Better soil conditions
  • Creates a microclimate that makes plants more resistant to climate change

Read more:

CleverCoffee: Agroforestry and shade-grown coffee

A short and transparent supply chain

We always work with as short and transparent a supply chain as possible. 98% of our coffee is purchased directly from the coffee farm, without using a middleman.

This coffee is an exception, as we have used a transparent importer to bring the coffee home.

The vast majority of our roasted coffee is also purchased directly from us - with the exception of a few retailers, such as coffee shops and specialty stores. You cannot buy our coffee in any large chains or on online marketplaces.

This means that there are fewer parties who have to "have a piece of the pie" and we ensure better payment for the coffee farms, which have been underpaid and living in poverty for decades.

The supply chain for this coffee looks like this:

  • The coffee is grown in Kenya in the Kirinyaga area.
  • The coffee cherries have been processed at the local washing station Kabingara
  • The green coffee beans are imported by Nordic Approach and stored in a warehouse in Zeebrugge, Belgium.
  • The green beans have then been transported to CleverCoffee.
  • The coffee is roasted and packaged at CleverCoffee in our own roastery outside Aarhus.

Since the weather is still cold and the days short, we thought it would be nice to bring some summer vibes with a delicious, washed coffee from Kenya.

A summery experience in winter

African coffees are known for retaining their fresh and lively flavour profile for a long time. This month's coffee is particularly true – it's wonderfully fresh, fruity and packed with that distinctive Kenyan flavour we love.

Lower harvest yield, higher quality

Many coffee-producing countries in Africa are already feeling the consequences of climate change. A study shows that93% of Kenyan coffee farmers are already experiencing the consequences of climate change.

Climate change is making seasons less predictable and rainfall patterns more erratic, creating droughts, sudden downpours and erratic rainfall patterns. Coffee plants are very sensitive to these shifts, and this year it has resulted in early flowering and a shorter ripening period.

In countries like Kenya, more variable seasons and harvest times have been a reality for several years. In fact, this month's coffee was harvested much later in the year than normal for this region.

Lower yield

In some areas of Kenya – including Kirinyaga, where this coffee is from – coffee producers have experienced a reduction in overall harvest yields.

When plants bear fewer berries, each individual coffee bean receives more nutrients and sugars, increasing both the sweetness and complexity of the cup. A lower yield can therefore lead to higher quality and thus a slightly higher price per kilo.

But it also means that farmers have fewer kilos of coffee to sell, as they are paid per kilo or bag.

Is that enough?

When both yield and quality vary, the price of coffee also changes. But the extra payment for higher quality rarely offsets the loss from a lower harvest, and the economic gain from better quality often does not reach coffee farmers. As a result, many farmers only feel the economic consequences of lower yields – not the potential economic benefit of better quality.

With the rising cost of living in both Kenya and the rest of the world, unpredictable harvest seasons are becoming a greater financial burden for coffee farmers, making it more important than ever to ensure they are paid fairly.

That is why we have chosen to work with Nordic Approach on this Kenyan coffee. Nordic Approach shares our values ​​of ethical trade and transparency, and with their presence in Kenya, we know that they are doing everything they can to alleviate as many of these challenges as possible for the coffee farmers.

Challenges become taste

This season, a large portion of the coffee was picked within a very short period of time, which created challenges in the production process. Limited space on the drying tables made it difficult to handle the large quantities of berries quickly enough, which can affect quality.

It was precisely this challenge that led to the invention of the “double washed” process that Kenya is known for. Here, the wet coffee beans are soaked in clean water while they wait for a free space on the drying tables.

This extra fermentation – or more precisely 'sequential' fermentation – increases the amount ofacetic acid and lactic acid bacteria, which enhances the coffee's fruity and juicy character. Many believe that this process is one of the main reasons for the vibrant flavor that Kenyan coffee is known for.

The classic Kenyan coffee

In many ways, this coffee represents the essence of classic Kenyan washed coffee. It is made from the typical Kenyan coffee types:SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11 and BatianThe result is a coffee that is juicy, sweet and complex – exactly what we love about coffee from Kenya.

Typical delivery: 1-2 business days

Typical delivery: 1-2 business days

4.9 ★★★★★ on Trustpilot

4.9 ★★★★★ on Trustpilot

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