The Mbature Family

The original Kamavindi farm was established by the late John Njiru Mbature in the 1950’s with the planting of 100 coffee trees: the maximum that native Kenyans were permitted to cultivate under British colonial law at the time. When, a few years later, the coffee planting restrictions eased somewhat, an additional 500 trees were planted on the 20 hectare (approx. 50 acres) estate. At the present time, John’s son Peter Mbature leads the management of Kamavindi with the support and collaboration of his mother Hellen Weveti and sister Gladwell Wanjira. The farm currently has about 10,000 coffee trees under cultivation, with SL28 the majority variety. Peter is an incredibly hardworking and ambitious coffee producer with an inspiring appetite for progressive approaches to agronomy and processing. In addition to his ongoing efforts to improve the quality of the coffees produced at Kamavindi, Peter actively shares knowledge with other coffee producers throughout Kenya and is building an educational training center to host educational courses on coffee processing and farm management.