Ruarai from the Ruthaka Farmers Cooperative Society is the first of our new season Kenyan coffees from our amazing suppliers Nordic Approach, a coffee hunter that is renowned for sourcing some of the best coffees in the world. It's a prime example of how good a washed Kenyan can be, amongst the vast range of lots that are on offer.
2021 was a year that (In our humble opinion), Kenyan coffee was maybe not at it's best. There are years when selection is hard, simply due to how many amazing lots there are on offer. This year it was more a case of lots of underwhelming coffees, with just a few that really stood out as exceptional. This is one of those lots.

Nordic Approach have the experience and reach to find exceptional lots that seem to go beyond what many others can source. This often means that they (and we) pay beyond the market rate for these coffees, but the resulting coffees are not just good, but amazing quality.

Ruarai offers great balance, whilst being both intense, smooth and super clean. It holds lots of layers of flavour, with notes like strawberries, plum and red currants, alongside a brown sugar sweetness. It has a medium body with a present but not overpowering citric acidity.

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Machina was created by two people looking for their next creative challenge. One, an ex DJ and producer (and coffee nerd) from the music industry, the other, a long time coffee industry professional with a background in training (and an apparent obsession for show singing).

They met through a mutual friend, again through music (a common theme). From here Machina took on it's own momentum, which is an extraordinary story of people, coffee and lots of equipment (that's a lot of equipment...), on a path to becoming a respected speciality coffee roastery.

The business started off as just equipment, but was always working towards one goal - becoming a premium speciality coffee roastery. We just needed to raise funds, and ideally do it without needing to bring in investors who would (no doubt) push us in a direction that we didn't want to go in. We had a vision, and the only way to ensure that actually happened, was to do it ourselves.

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