Kenya

Mtaro Estate

Region: Near Ruiru & Juja, Thika district, about 40km North of Nairobi
Soil: Red volcanic soil
Elevation: 1,600 meters
Variety: Arabica
 Certification: Utz Kapeh
 Harvest: Early crop: April-August, Late crop: October-December
 Process: Wet Processed, Fermentation, Washing & Sun Dried

Maintains natural forest which is bird friendly, Every 5 years the coffee tress are cut back to 1ft from the ground to rejuvenate & keep the tree resistant to disease  The farm had natural vegetation before coffee was planted.

Coffee was planted in 1917 by a white man called Joseph Web who got the field from the Kikuyu community during the colonial time. The first block where coffee was planted was called Ndetuini which was about 18 hectares. In the year 1929 , the furrow that supplies the estate with water was dug. “Mtaro” means “channel” in the Kiswahili language and the farm was named after this furrow, or hand-dug channel. The estate was taken over by Kakuzi Ltd in 1971 after the death of Mr. Web. Kakuzi Ltd handed over the Estate to Socfinaf Co. Ltd in 2002. Currently, Mtaro Estate has about 300 employees.