Mary Tonjes - Kenya

Mary Tonjes was introduced to coffee in her early seventies, her dream of earning a living with coffee came true after she joined Sakami, in 2021. At the moment, she is working on expanding her farm and increasing her production value. She also grows maize, beans, hay and potatoes, mostly for internal use.

She is not only an independent mother to her children but a passionate farmer. Throughout her life, she's been involved in several community projects, mainly as a teacher in community service. Coffee came quite late in life for her. Only about six years ago she began experimenting with it. "It's so interesting," she comments, "how can process affect so much the quality of a product."

Back then, she hoped to make a profit from coffee one day and today this is a reality. She has plans to expand her coffee farm and we can’t wait to see this happen. At 78, she keeps herself quite busy, tending her coffee trees and vegetables daily.

Coffee cherries are harvested at their ripest point, selected and naturally processed. It is then driven to Santa Lucila in ventilated boxes where it’s dried on African beds.

Sakami is driven by Gloria who made possible that five progressive women committed to offering their very best and to grow coffee with the people from the region and to find a way to empower the farmers that have been chained to underpaid jobs for generations.

VARIETY – SL28, Ruiru 11, Batian

REGION - Nabiswai

FARM – Caravianel

PROCESS – Natural

ALTITUDE – 1800

NOTES - black currant, stone fruit, blueberry, grapefruit