KENYA · GUIDE 0685 · EDITION 4.2
Coffee tasting workshops in Kenya: Customers and Market Demand
The buyer and the buying decision
Coffee enthusiasts, office groups and hospitality teams. The offer to test is: Host a coffee tasting that compares products and explains preparation without overstated health claims.
Select contrasting coffees with traceable supplier descriptions and choose a tasting sequence that teaches participants to notice differences without requiring specialist vocabulary beforehand.
Separate interest from an accepted order
Run a small session using a few traceable coffees and an agreed tasting format.
The purpose of this test is to establish whether the buyer accepts the specified result, delivery arrangement and payment terms. An encouraging interview does not establish repeat demand. Ask what the buyer currently uses, what would make them change supplier and who has authority to approve the first order. Record a refusal as carefully as an enquiry so that unsuccessful offers do not disappear from the evidence.
Collect evidence specific to this offer
Log coffees used, preparation choices, participant descriptions, questions and wastage, preserving which comparisons produced meaningful discussion and which required a simpler explanation next time.
| Question to resolve | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| What exactly will the buyer accept? | Ask participants to compare the same coffees before and after instruction, checking whether preparation differences are explained without presenting personal preferences as objective quality rankings. |
| What is included in the first trial? | Select contrasting coffees with traceable supplier descriptions and choose a tasting sequence that teaches participants to notice differences without requiring specialist vocabulary beforehand. |
| How will a prospect see the offer? | Partner with roasters and cafes using transparent sourcing and a sample session outline. |
| What must happen before repeating the trial? | Participants understand the differences being demonstrated and receive accurate product information. |
Decide whether to continue
Review the specification with the buyer before committing to tools or stock. A trial is commercially useful only if actual costs, rejected work, time spent and cash collected can be reconciled. The workshop becomes confusing when inconsistent brewing masks the intended comparison or participants feel pressured to repeat tasting notes they cannot personally detect.
If a buyer changes the required output, record a new scope and re-cost the test. Do not count a request for a different product as proof of demand for the original one. Keep personal contact details in your private records and use customer statements publicly only with permission.
Turn the example into a buyer test
Fictional sample workshop: six adults taste the same Kenyan roasted coffee prepared in two different brew methods during a 60-minute introductory session. Each receives two approximately 50 ml tasting portions, with an optional repeat while supplies last. The exercise explores personal flavour preference and preparation differences; it is not SCA accreditation, professional grading or proof that one method produces healthier coffee. Buy one identified 500 g retail pack and record roast/package details. Participants may decline caffeine; do not disguise a coffee sample as caffeine-free.
| Buyer discussion | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| Specification to confirm | Both methods produce enough acceptable coffee for six separate tasting cups without requiring guests to share a tasting vessel. |
| Output to inspect | The stock ledger separates coffee purchased, used, wasted and retained; leftover beans are not counted as sales. |
| Failure that can defeat acceptance | Both samples taste unexpectedly identical |
Ask the buyer to describe one acceptable and one unacceptable result. Record the decision maker, price basis, quantity, handover point and payment date privately. A sample request, an encouraging conversation and an accepted order are different evidence. Keep the first commitment within your demonstrated capacity; no customer interview or successful trial is asserted here.
What a failed test should change
Check actual brew records, sample labels and whether the same preparation was poured twice.. If the offer cannot meet that check, revise the specification or process before promising a repeat. Keep rejected offers and reasons in the same register as positive replies so that your record does not exaggerate demand.