The cupping room is already filled with the aroma of freshly ground coffee.
Rows of cups line the table. A kettle whistles in the background. Notebooks are open, spoons ready.
For Daniel Magu, a specialty coffee trader at NKG East Africa, the day has already begun.

His first task is preparing a cupping preselection for visiting clients, coffees sourced from across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Each cup represents a farm, a cooperative, a harvest season, and months of work by producers across the region. But before buyers taste the coffee, Daniel has already done the groundwork.

His role is to connect producers in East Africa with specialty buyers around the world while safeguarding quality, traceability, sustainability, and commercial viability. It is a role that sits at the intersection of agronomy, logistics, quality control, and global trade. And during coffee season, it rarely slows down.
“It’s a demanding position,” Daniel says. “For about ten months of the year, the work is at its peak.”

A specialty coffee trader works in the middle of the supply chain, where relationships matter just as much as quality.

Daniel spends much of his time building trust with farmers, cooperatives, estates, importers, and roasters. His goal is to ensure that coffee moves smoothly from origin to international markets while everyone in the supply chain benefits from the process.

Across East Africa, most coffee is grown by smallholder farmers managing small plots of land. Farmers deliver their coffee cherries to cooperative-managed wet mills, where the coffee is processed and prepared for sale.

NKG East Africa works closely with these cooperatives and producers to maintain quality and strengthen supply chains. The company sources coffee directly from these networks while supporting more resilient and sustainable coffee systems across the region.

For Daniel, maintaining strong relationships with these partners is essential. “When you have a strong relationship with cooperatives and producers, you can provide actionable feedback,” he explains. “That helps reduce quality risk and improve the coffee over time.”

Sometimes that feedback is immediate, spotting defects during cupping and informing a factory manager so adjustments can be made for the next processing batch. Other times it comes through conversations in the field. “Conversations with farmers aren’t casual discussions,” Daniel says. “They are critical data points that shape sourcing strategies and quality expectations.”

One conversation in particular stayed with him. During a visit to a farm, Daniel asked a farmer what the best price would be for his coffee. The farmer paused, unsure how to answer. Daniel explained that the right price is any price that covers the cost of production and the time invested in growing the crop. For him, the moment reflected a broader reality of coffee farming, where producers constantly balance effort, risk, and market value.

During the coffee season, Daniel’s days move quickly.

Most mornings begin in the cupping lab, tasting coffees, evaluating new lots, and preparing samples for clients visiting the region. Cupping is central to everything he does. It confirms quality, reveals hidden defects, and helps determine the right price for each lot. It also helps match coffees with the markets where they will resonate most. “Different markets look for different flavor profiles,” Daniel explains.

A Scandinavian roaster might look for bright blackcurrant acidity. An Asian buyer might prefer a winey fruit-forward profile. Part of Daniel’s role is identifying where each coffee will resonate most.

When evaluating a new lot, he considers several factors:

• Origin and region
• Farm, cooperative, or estate
• Altitude
• Coffee variety
• Processing method
• Crop year and harvest date
• Moisture levels and water activity

Coffees scoring above 87 points on the Specialty Coffee Association scale often attract strong interest from specialty buyers looking for distinctive and high-quality lots. But the final question is always the same. Where will this coffee find its home?

Daniel’s work spans three coffee-producing countries: Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

While these regions all produce high-quality coffees grown at high elevations, each origin offers distinct characteristics shaped by climate, soil, and good agricultural practices.

Weather patterns, varieties, and farming methods all influence the final cup profile.

Despite these differences, the supply chain structure across the region is often similar. Smallholder farmers, many managing less than three acres, form the backbone of production and deliver their harvests to cooperative washing stations.

These systems create both opportunities and challenges.
Many farmers face issues such as ageing trees, low yields, and limited access to agronomy services. Climate change and rising production costs add further pressure to the sector. For traders like Daniel, being based at origin is essential.

“Being here means having direct access to real-time information,” he says. “Weather impacts, harvest progress, and processing conditions all affect the coffee and the expectations of buyers.”