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Day 15 - Kenya | Petit AB

Blume Coffee Roasters

Petit is a small coffee estate located in Kiambu County, in Kenya’s central highlands. The estate is owned by Peter Kugi Ndugo, who established it in 2010. Peter grew up in the area and is the son of a coffee farmer. After leaving his family’s shamba (‘farm’ in Swahili) to pursue a successful career in finance, Peter decided to return to his village when he retired. He inherited uncultivated land from his family (his elder siblings inherited his father’s coffee shambas) and decided to plant coffee and bananas and to keep dairy cows. Peter has since acquired more land and now has three coffee shambas totalling 10 acres, which make up the Petit estate.

Petit sits in the foothills of the extinct volcano, Mt Kenya, in an area defined by its bright red, nutrient-rich, volcanic soil and cool climate. These geographical conditions are ideal for exceptional coffee production and contribute to the outstanding quality of this lot. At the time of planting, Peter chose the SL-28 and SL-34 varieties that are most commonly found in central Kenya, specifically because they produce a high-quality flavour profile. He has also planted a small amount of Batian, a newer, hardier, hybrid that has been bred for high yields and disease resistance, coupled with a high potential for excellent cup quality. The varieties are harvested and processed together, as separation is very challenging to achieve during the busy harvest period.

About This Roaster

We are a new and very small business, literally just one of us at this point. As such we do not believe it is a practical business model to be flying around the world buying high grade, micro lot coffee. Well, not just yet anyway. Let me explain a little. There are many reasons for this but I’ll focus on the two main ones.

 Firstly, this is a costly enterprise. The money that would foreseeably be spent on travel, could be used in other parts of the business to help it grow and become sustainable. At the small volume we roast now, I’ve made the choice to spend a little bit more on our green, or raw, coffee. Volume brings me to point two. We do not currently roast enough coffee to be able to make any form of positive impact at farm level on our own. It is far more effective for us to buy our coffees from importers and exporters who have ethics and values that align with our own and that we can trust. In short, as a community of business’ along the supply chain we can help shape it into having a more equitable & sustainable future.

In terms of quality we don’t want to just rest on our laurels and tell you what so many others already do. That we will source & roast the very best coffees in the world. How can we all have the best? What we can promise you is that we will source coffees from around the globe, that are delicious and varied. As roasters, we will try not to undo the hard work of producers, hopefully highlighting what all that toil has delivered us.

 Thank you for reading.

 -Angus Gibbs