Description Yellow Diamond is Habil Olaka’s family farm in western Kenya, a 30-acre property with about 21 acres of coffee across four distinct blocks. Habil moved his family out from the city to Trans-Nzoia county with corn, chickens, flowers, and honey before coffee gradually claimed the bulk of his attention, encouraged in part by nearby producers like Stephen Nendela of Muinami Estate. Today, though an abundance of fruits, flowers, and an apiary (reached through a small banana grove) remain on the farm, the focus is optimizing for coffee. Soil has been tested and enriched with compost from coffee husk chicken manure, and shade trees of macadamia and Grevillea planted to provide both shade and wind protection. Ruiru 11’s stability, productivity, and cup potential when paired with meticulous processing have made it the farm’s preferred variety, though Batian remains in play as well. When we visited the washing station just after the 25/26 harvest season, the place was immaculately clean, and detailed temperature/pH notes from their final anaerobic lot of the season were still fresh on the chalkboard. When pressed (lightly, of course) for a backstory on the place’s name—Yellow Diamond Hacienda—Farm Manager Isaac smiled, assuring us it was merely meant to evoke something bright, rare, and valuable.
