🇰🇪 Kenya
Page updated: @March 11, 2025
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Contents
- Contents
- Location
- History
- Operations and Facilities
- Sustainable Farming Practices
- Community Engagement
- Leadership
- Future Goals
- Marketing Assets
- Producer Updates
Great Rift Coffee is a vertically integrated coffee company based in Nandi Hills, Kenya, specializing in the cultivation, processing, roasting, and export of high-quality Arabica coffee. Established in 2019, the company operates with a farm-to-cup approach, ensuring quality control at every stage of production.
Location
History
Great Rift Coffee was founded with the goal of creating a sustainable and reliable supply chain for Kenyan coffee while to supporting local farmers, improving coffee processing standards, and highlighting the potential of Nandi Hills and the North Rift as a coffee-growing region.
Since its inception, Great Rift Coffee has expanded to cultivate 300 acres of coffee while also working with 250–300 local farmers. The company has grown its operations to include a wet and dry mill, a commercial mill, and a roastery, enabling it to process and export green coffee directly to international markets.
Operations and Facilities
Alongside 300 acres of coffee trees and a wet and dry mill, Great Rift additionally owns and operates a commercial coffee mill, and a roastery which is used to generate additional sales. Also on site is 40 acres of macadamia trees, 200 acres of sugarcane, and a dairy farm.
The company grows a variety of Arabica coffee on its farms, including Batian, SL28, Ruiru 11, and Blue Mountain. Great Rift Coffee processes its beans using several methods, including fully washed, honey processed, naturals, and anaerobic fermentation techniques. These methods are used to enhance the flavor profiles of the coffee, ensuring that it meets the standards of international coffee markets.
In addition to coffee grown on its own farms, Great Rift Coffee sources beans from trusted farmers across the Great Rift Valley, Western, and Central Kenya. The company works closely with these farmers, offering guidance on agronomy and processing to ensure the consistency and quality of their products.
Sustainable Farming Practices
Great Rift Coffee is grown under a canopy of shade trees, mimicking the natural forest environment and providing a habitat for local wildlife. Additional crops and indigenous trees are also cultivated to improve soil fertility, reduce erosion, and promote a diverse ecosystem.
In line with organic farming principles, Great Rift Coffee avoids synthetic chemicals, opting instead for natural pest control and the use of organic fertilisers, such as manure from its goat farm.
Great Rift is also committed to efficient water management, employing irrigation systems designed to minimise water wastage.
There are buffer zones around Great Rift’s farm, preserving natural vegetation and providing a habitat for pollinators, which is also encouraged by the bee hives found throughout the farm.
Community Engagement
Great Rift Coffee actively engages with the local farming community, working with 250 to 300 coffee farmers in the region. The support available to these farmers includes the provision of high-quality coffee seedlings, financial assistance in the form of loans and subsidies for farming inputs, and training in best agricultural practices.
Great Rift’s presence in the region also provides work opportunities with fair wages in the form of jobs at its farm, mill, and roastery. In addition, the company has funded the construction of boreholes for local schools, ensuring that children in the area have access to fresh water. Also of note is Great Rift’s its scholarship program, which provides full secondary school academic scholarships to the top-performing girls in Nandi County.
Leadership
Dr. David Muge, the Chairman of Great Rift Coffee, holds a Bachelor's degree in Veterinary Medicine and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Bristol. He has a background in veterinary practice and has worked across the United Kingdom before returning to Kenya to establish Great Rift Coffee.
Zakiya-Rose Muge, the Chief Executive Officer, holds an MSc in Pharmacy from the University of Bath. She has a strong background in business development and marketing, and since joining Great Rift Coffee in 2021, she has been instrumental in the company’s branding, package design, and business-to-business relationships. Zakiya-Rose’s expertise has helped position Great Rift Coffee as a competitive player in the global coffee market.
Future Goals
Great Rift Coffee has set ambitious short- and long-term goals to expand its operations and impact. In the short term, the company aims to establish an additional 300 acres of coffee, enhance its export capacity, and support more farmers by helping them access international markets. They also plan to establish a self-sustaining nursery to supply seedlings for future planting, as well as lodges for visitors to experience the daily operations of a coffee farm.
In the long term, Great Rift Coffee aims to become a community hub for all coffee-related activities, providing farm resources, financial support, and education to the wider community. The company plans to expand its milling facilities to serve a larger sector of the local farming community and continue promoting sustainable practices throughout the region.