From Green Bean to the Cup: Rebuilding Value, Skills, and Dignity in Gatanga
Alfred Gitau Mwaura is laying the foundation for a bold, practical vision: the first smallholder coffee demo in Gatanga, designed to show Kenyan youth how real value is created—from green coffee to roasted coffee to the final cup. At the heart of this initiative is the 4A Coffee Roaster, a locally grounded innovation meant to place roasting power, knowledge, and opportunity directly into community hands.
A Kenya Coffee School (KCS) Demo Farm with a Bigger Purpose
This Gatanga demo is not a showcase—it’s a school without walls. Young people will learn how to:
- Handle and evaluate green coffee
- Roast coffee at smallholder scale using the 4A Coffee Roaster
- Brew, taste, and understand coffee from farm to cup
- Translate skills into self-employment or professional careers as baristas and specialty coffee practitioners
The message is simple and urgent: value addition must begin at home. When communities understand and own the full journey of their coffee, incomes rise, dignity returns, and futures open.
Build Local Value First—Then Export the Surplus
For too long, the dominant mindset has been that value lives elsewhere—that a “better world” exists only outside our borders. That perspective costs us generations. Faith in our own consumption and creativity is the first step to sustainable growth.
We must appreciate and consume what we produce, grow our local coffee culture, and export only the surplus—already rich with Kenyan identity and craftsmanship.
Coffee for Everyone—Beyond the Cup
Not everyone loves drinking coffee—and that’s okay. Coffee’s potential doesn’t stop at a mug. At the Gatanga demo, learners explore coffee as a delicacy, not just a beverage:
- Kenyan coffee–infused gelato
- Smoothies and milkshakes
- Creative, alcohol-free and cocktail-style beverages
This is why coffee mixology is central to the curriculum. It expands markets, invites new consumers, and celebrates coffee through flavor, texture, and experience—meeting people where they are.
Skills That Create Work, Not Waiting
By teaching roasting, brewing, mixology, and service, the program equips youth to:
- Launch micro-roasteries
- Run Barista Mtaani coffee carts and pop-ups
- Work in cafés, hotels, embassies, and events
- Innovate with desserts and beverages that feature Kenyan coffee
This is how livelihoods are built—skills first, value next, markets last.
A Call to Reclaim Perspective
The Gatanga smallholder coffee demo is a reminder that progress doesn’t begin elsewhere—it begins here. When we trust our land, our people, and our products, we don’t just create jobs; we restore perspective. And with it, a generation ready to add value, at home, together.