This third section covers my visits to some of the great small farm cooperative "factories", as they are unromantically called in Kenya (called beneficios in Latin America). Factories are where the coffee beans, seeds really, are thoroughly stripped of all fruit and then dried until stable and ready for storage/transportation. This processing is very time consuming and labor intensive, particularly so for fine coffees. Approximately 1000 farmers use a factory, as a very general rule of thumb. A cooperative society often operates several such factories. Farmers belonging to such cooperatives typically have an acre or less of land and about 500 trees with each tree producing far less than 1 pound of roasted coffee. They also typically grow tea and other products for the local markets. Since these farms are so small and each family's subsistence is at stake hired labor is not a factor and qualities can be extraordinary - as long as farmers are given any opportunity at all. This was not the case, thanks to rank corruption, until perhaps recently. Many signs are pointing in the right direction.
I visited Kangocho and Kahindu on the same day. Both factories were very familiar to me since in the days of The Coffee Connection they had produced amazing qualities. It was a thrill to once again offer their coffees. The harvest was still just getting started and so activity was limited (next year I will go a bit later!).