Day 1 - in Arusha, Tanzania - EAFCA

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011
It's been a fine first day in Tanzania. Started out with a typical bad assumption on my part --- namely I believed the hotel manager who told me a shuttle would arrive at 8am that would go to the Ngoroto Hotel where the EAFCA conference is. Wrong. By 8:15am he had changed his story and was telling me and another EAFCA delegate (from Japan) that we would have to pay for our own way out there.

So we got a taxi and that was probably the best thing. I needed to go into town to buy a phone and the taxi driver was very helpful. My new-found Japanese friend helped me negotiate prices, too - we had to buy the phone, then the SIM card, then get minutes on the SIM card then exchange dollars for Tanzanian Schillings. Doing all that afforded a peek into "real life" in Arusha that other conference attendees are not seeing.

Finally, around 10am we were at the beautiful Ngoroto Hotel and Resort and attending the conference. The photo shows me with Mark Stell (Portland Roasting), Elliot from Schluter (CH), Phyllis Johnson (BD Imports). What I love about these conferences is meeting producers like Loy and Jane from Uganda (other photo).


The conference included seminars on expected volumes, pricing and coffee market issues for the coming year. There was, naturally, a lot of focus on East African countries. I was very intrigued by the Nescafe Plan presented by Gary Milsted of Nescafe. The big brand companies are talking like they really want to make a difference at the smallholder level. The exhibit area is refreshingly different -- all the booths are out in the open air!

The dinner this evening was also in the open air (under tents) at the Rivertree Hotel. Very enjoyable company, including roasters from 3 continents, farmers, and CQI professionals.

Getting ready for East Africa

The countdown is on -- 12 days until I depart for Tanzania and Kenya. I'll fly to Tanzania first, for 3 days at the East African Fine Coffee Association (EAFCA) trade show and conference in Arusha. This is supposedly "the place" to meet the East African traders, exporters, growers and everyone interested in East African coffee from around the world. Looking forward to the "coffee safari" that will take us to visit Tanzanian coffee farms and washing stations.

I'll take the short flight from Tanzania's Kilimanjaro airport to Nairobi on Feb. 19th and this will be my first time in Kenya! I'll spend the night at the Methodist Guest House and then the next morning, I get to do a "trek" out of Nairobi and through the bush to the "country", in particular, a town named Meru. Here I'll be meeting up with a group of 17 others from my church. We're a mixed bag group -- 5 teenagers, a physician, a pastor, 2 college professors, a successful IT entrepreneur, an organizational strategy consultant, several retired people and me -- a coffee importer/broker with an international development background. What can we offer to a high school in Meru? I don't honestly know. But I'm told we will learn to think on our feet and it will be appreciated. Watch this space. I plan to blog about it!

During the week in Meru, there's a plan that I'll visit the Riankune cooperative and mill. That will be fantastic if that works out. I would love to meet the growers from who Artisan Coffee Imports has already purchased coffee and establish an on-going relationship. One that is mutually beneficial and lasting.

At the end of the trip, Feb. 28th, I'm looking forward to visiting Dorman's in Nairobi and, you guessed it, another coffee farm. This time one in the Nairobi region.

Trying to figure out what to pack. It has to be very little. I've been warned that the minibuses for the group I'm with in Meru have very little luggage space.