NL Pakaya Koffie
Based in Drenthe, Pakaya specializes in East African Arabica, utilizing direct trade and fair pricing to provide a wide range of options for both private consumers and businesses.
Pakaya Koffie Beans
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More About Pakaya Koffie
An East African Focus from Drenthe
The coffee brand Kahawa Pakaya operates out of Norg in Drenthe. Kahawa is the Swahili word for coffee. The roastery focuses entirely on coffee beans from East Africa, with a team claiming over forty years of combined experience in the region. Their focus lies on countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. Pakaya delivers throughout the European Union via a multilingual webshop, which has been active since approximately 2018 or 2019.
Sourcing and Mission: Direct Trade and Fair Prices
Pakaya’s mission combines high quality with strong ethics. Their motto is simple: life is too short to drink bad coffee. The company sources beans directly from the farmers, sometimes working with micro-farmers who rely on as few as two hundred coffee plants. This direct model ensures that growers are paid fairly. The brand avoids generic fairtrade terminology, opting instead for the term “real prices”. A key partner in this process is Stanley Samuel, the founder of the Tanzanian initiative Kilimanjaro KilicoffeeEcocraft.
Assortment: From Green Beans to Private Label
The webshop features a total of 140 products. For a small roastery, the offering for both consumers and the business market is remarkably broad. The platform consists of the following main categories:
Nineteen varieties of roasted coffee.
Eleven varieties of unroasted (green) coffee beans.
Five value bundles and four types of tea.
Pakaya offers both roasted and green beans, making the shop a great destination for home roasters and experimental coffee drinkers. Orders over fifty euros qualify for free shipping. Additionally, new customers receive a ten percent discount upon signing up for the newsletter. Businesses can also partner with Pakaya to develop their own coffee brand. A prime example is JenJ Koffiebonen, the private label for restaurant JenJ in Assen, roasted exclusively by Pakaya. The brand invites other entrepreneurs to explore similar collaborations.
Flavor Profiles: A Journey Through East Africa
Pakaya exclusively sells 100% Arabica coffee. Their selection consists of single origin beans of high AA quality. The collection is neatly organized by origin and contains no blends. Each country delivers a unique flavor profile. Kenyan beans are grown at altitudes between 1500 and 2000 meters, offering a rich body, vibrant acidity, and a fruity finish. The coffee from Rwanda is a Bourbon Arabica, providing a silky body with notes of orange, lemon, and caramel.
The Tanzanian beans are of SHG quality. Sourced from regions including Kilimanjaro, they offer a wine-like acidity with hints of cedarwood. Coffee from Burundi is characterized by a spicy, dark profile and a remarkably thick crema. From Uganda come Bugisu beans with a fruity and winey character, grown at high altitudes of up to 2300 meters. Additionally, a light-roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe was available for a limited time.
Equipment and B2B Partnerships
The assortment extends far beyond just coffee. The webshop offers a wide range of high-quality accessories, where customers can find coffee grinders, capsules, cups, and portafilters. For these, Pakaya collaborates with renowned brands such as MUSSA HANDMADE, diRossi, and REG BARBER. Since December 2020, they have partnered with Mahlgut Manufactur for products like the Mola-e, Dozer, and Buzzer. In 2021, Pakaya also featured TORR TOYS, a brand that has been producing handmade espresso accessories since 2003.
For professional maintenance, Pakaya supplies cleaning materials. A great example is the Espazzola group head cleaner, which is compatible with tampers from 56 to 58 millimeters and portafilters with an outer diameter starting from 69 millimeters. A special B2B collaboration supports the Kilimanjaro KilicoffeeEcocraft project; for every Mninga tamper sold, 5000 Tanzanian shillings (approximately 1.80 euros) goes directly to the farmers’ collective.
Knowledge Sharing and Transparency
Education is a fundamental part of their vision. Pakaya sells informative materials, such as the Coffee Booklet and posters regarding the classification system of green Arabica. Author Frank Kiewiet has written several in-depth articles for the website. Additionally, Petra Venekamp, founder of ConcreetAdvies, was featured in a post about barista education.
Platforms such as Eatly and Koffietje recognize Pakaya as a valuable source for quality coffee in the Netherlands. However, there are areas where public information is lacking. Specific names of farms or cooperatives are rarely mentioned. Technical details, such as the exact roasting equipment, production capacity, or the name of the head roaster, are also unavailable. Despite these gaps, Pakaya positions itself strongly as a dedicated specialist in East African coffee.
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