Michael Warui leads us through Fairview Coffee Estate in Kenya’s Central Highlands, where curious coffee lovers have a chance to try authentic Kenyan coffee.
BY DANIEL MURAGA
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos courtesy of Minister Michael Warui
Adjacent to a scenic dam and a cascading waterfall in Central Kenya is a large coffee plantation that attracts both local and international coffee enthusiasts seeking to experience authentic Kenyan coffee. About six miles from Nairobi is Fairview Coffee Estate, which is located 1,750 meters above sea level and spans over 100 acres, providing a good opportunity to experience coffee without venturing too far from the capital. Visiting this estate is like touring a winery in Stellenbosch, Cape Town, or Naples, where you walk through vineyards and sample different grapes—and it isn’t the only one in Kenya of its kind.
We took a tour of Fairview Estate to taste Kenyan coffee like a pro and spoke to Michael Warui, Executive Director of the estate, to learn more about the history of coffee farming in the area.
“Fairview Estate is a 117-year-old business that started in 1909,” says Michael. “Over the years, it has changed hands several times but was purchased by Ambassador (Leonard O.) Kibinge and his family in 1978. We have a modest 44 hectares—a little above 100 acres—under coffee, with the primary variety being SL28 Arabica plants.”
Starting as a consultant at Price Waterhouse Coopers decades ago, Michael’s career spans tourism, wildlife conservation, real estate development, hospitality, agribusiness, facilitating public-private partnerships, and the church. When he turned 80, Ambassador Kibinge, who is now 92, requested Michael to take over leadership of the farm. The farm now offers a chance for visitors to learn about Kenyan coffee—its history, development, harvesting, brewing, and more—and, above all, partake in tasting the brew as an expert.
The coffee plantation is irrigated by Riara River, a small but permanent river that acts as a tributary within the larger Nairobi River basin. A walk through the coffee bushes leads to a waterfall and an artificial dam.
A Tour Through Fairview Coffee Estate
The coffee farm offers a range of experiences for the visitors to enjoy daily, like guided tours led by coffee experts with one tour in the morning and another in the afternoon. Through these tours, the visitor learns first-hand the art of coffee farming and processing, internalizing all the steps that the bean takes from farm to cup.
Some of the activities here include picking the cherries from the trees and roasting them. In addition to touring the farms and appreciating the beauty of the lush green coffee plant rows (all of them older than any person alive today in the world and seemingly touching the horizon), the visitor is also led through the coffee crop cycle, the need for sustainable farming, and why eco-friendly agricultural practices are a must for success.
After picking coffee, a trip to the factory takes visitors through the steps that raw coffee beans go through to become those irresistible aromatic beans we all know and love. Here, visitors learn about sorting coffee, pulping, fermentation, and drying. The coffee lab is where the roasting takes place and offers an opportunity for visitors to taste freshly roasted coffee.
The farm also offers an opportunity to “take home what they’ve seen” and purchase carefully harvested and roasted premium coffee. Finally, visitors can learn more about the rich culture of Kenyan coffee by interacting with locals in a traditional coffee ritual.
“We have refined the immersive experience (of our guided tours) over the years so that cultural exchange and engagement with all our employees is not only encouraged, but also provides a unique opportunity to understand how coffee can help change the lives of ordinary Kenyans,” Michael says. “We’re honored to host hundreds of guests every year, including Kenyans, East Africans, Africans, and other nationals from every continent in the world.”
The Growth of a Local Coffee Scene
Fairview is not the only coffee farm offering tours in the surrounding neighborhood or in Kiambu County. Other popular farms that curious coffee lovers can visit include Karunguru Coffee Estate and Kiambethu Farm, among others in the same county. Michael expresses that he isn’t concerned about “competition,” as he only hopes for the local coffee sector to continue to expand. He also shares his wish for Kiambu County to one day become a coffee tourism destination, just as Stellenbosch is a wine tourism destination in South Africa.
“We don’t actually care about the ‘competition’ and warmly welcome other large and small coffee farmers to replicate and improve upon our business model. Our greatest joy would be to see Africa’s share of global trade grow from a dismal 3% to at least 20%, through value addition across multiple value chains,” Michael told Barista Magazine. “What we are doing in coffee is replicable across many value-chains including those in the extractive sector.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Daniel Muraga (he/him) is a communications expert, researcher, writer, and editor based in Kenya with over 10 years of experience in the industry. His mission is to highlight Africa’s contributions to the realms of science, technology, innovation, culture, food, and related fields. He has done extensive research and written widely in the coffee niche for Sprudge Media, as well as in related areas for Life & Thyme and CQ Researcher, among others. When not writing, he is always outdoors communing with nature. You can find him on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.
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