Shabaya
Shabaya Limited · Nairobi, Kenya

Home of the premium coffee experience, from bean to cup.

Kenyan coffee, elevated.

Served by the best in Africa, and the world. World No.5 Barista Champion Martin Shabaya brings every part of the chain under one roof. Farm. Roast. Machine. Bar.

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#5
World Barista Champ 2021
3×
Africa Barista Champion
4×
Kenya Barista Champion
Martin Shabaya pulling a shot on a Sanremo espresso machine
WBC Milan 2021

“The cup was the argument.”

Martin Shabaya · 5th, World Barista Championship

BatianRuiru 11SL28SL34Maguta EstateNyeriKirinyagaKiambuBungomaSanremo CubeWBC Finalist
Why our coffee stands apart

Premium begins long before the cup.

Kenyan coffee is known across the world for bright acidity, layered fruit notes, floral aroma, and a clean finish. Five things make ours different from the rest.

  • · 01

    Premium Kenyan Origin

    We work directly with Kenya's most respected coffee belts. Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Murang'a, Embu. Volcanic soils. 1,500 to 2,100 metre altitudes. The cup the world flies in for.

  • · 02

    Carefully Selected Beans

    Every lot is cupped at the farm, scored, and traced to the picker. We buy character. Aroma. Body. Acidity. Finish. Quality begins long before the roast.

  • · 03

    Freshly Roasted in Nairobi

    Small-batch roasting six days a week, designed to reveal the bean. No bitterness hiding a thin coffee. Every bag is stamped with a roast date.

  • · 04

    Rooted in African Coffee Culture

    We tell the story of the land, the farmer, the process, the people. African coffee deserves African storytelling and African ownership.

  • · 05

    Designed for Everyday Luxury

    Brewed at home, served in the office, gifted to a client, shared after dinner. Coffee that turns an ordinary moment into a refined ritual.

The Shabaya experience

From bean to cup,
every step in our hands.

We don't hand off any part of the chain. The same standard that pulled a Milan finals routine lands in every cup we touch.

  1. Kenyan coffee landscape at altitude
    01 · Sourced

    Direct from Kenyan estates

    Lot-level cupping at altitude. SCA-scored. Traced to the picker.

  2. Fresh roasted coffee beans
    02 · Roasted

    Small-batch in Nairobi

    Six days a week. Stamped with roast date. Shipped within the week.

  3. Espresso shot pulled on a commercial machine
    03 · Pulled

    On championship-spec Sanremo

    Calibrated to the gram. Pulled by hands trained for the world stage.

  4. A finished cup of specialty coffee
    04 · Served

    By the best in the world

    Africa's first WBC finalist serves the cup. Or trains your team to.

The Shabaya coffees

Four coffees.
One standard.

Every bag is roasted in Nairobi, stamped with a roast date, and traced to a producer we know by name. Whole bean or ground to your method.

  • Espresso shot pulled into a cup
    Signature

    The Milan

    Batian · Ruiru 11 espresso blend

    Our tribute to the routine that placed fifth at the WBC Milan 2021. A modern Kenyan espresso built around two disease-resistant cultivars that most of the industry underestimated.

    Tasting notes

    Blackcurrant · Brown sugar · Dark chocolate finish

    Origin

    Maguta Estate · Kirinyaga

    Available soon · pre-order welcomeOrder →
  • A finished cup of specialty coffee
    Reserve

    Maguta Reserve

    SL28 · SL34 single-estate microlot

    The Kenya you have read about. Classic SL28/SL34 washed processing from a single estate in Kirinyaga, at 1,850 metres. The cup that made buyers fly here in the first place.

    Tasting notes

    Grapefruit · Blackberry · Honey · Clean finish

    Origin

    Maguta Estate · Kirinyaga

    Available soon · pre-order welcomeOrder →
  • Coffee cherries and beans from an African estate
    Micro-lot

    Nyeri Peaberry

    PB washed microlot, limited harvest

    Small round beans, single-seed cherries, hand-sorted at the mill. Grown at altitude in Nyeri, our peaberry lots run a couple of hundred kilograms a year. Blink and you miss the harvest.

    Tasting notes

    Red fruit · Molasses · Silky body

    Origin

    Nyeri County

    Available soon · pre-order welcomeOrder →
  • Freshly roasted coffee beans
    House

    Rift Valley Blend

    East African everyday espresso

    A confident everyday blend across four East African origins. Balanced for espresso and milk, roasted a touch darker than our single origins, and priced so a cafe can pour it all week.

    Tasting notes

    Cocoa · Dried fig · Toasted almond

    Origin

    Kenya · Rwanda · Burundi · Ethiopia

    Available soon · pre-order welcomeOrder →

Wholesale, retail, and private label enquiries welcome

What we do

One house. Seven crafts.
All in service of the cup.

We work every part of the chain. The farm. The green coffee. The roast. The machine. The bar. Same quality standard at every step.

The founder

Martin Shabayafrom a Nairobi counter to the world stage.

Martin Shabaya pulling an espresso shot in a white shirt

Brand Ambassador

Sanremo Coffee Machines · Africa

Martin did not plan to live in coffee. He wanted to be an architect. Then, straight out of high school, he stepped behind the counter at Artcaffé to support his family, and the cup answered back.

He rose to Head Barista. Then four Kenya National titles. Then Africa Champion in 2020. In Milan 2021, he became the first African finalist in World Barista Championship history, finishing 5th in the world on a routine built around Kenyan Batian and Ruiru 11. Espresso poured over a bed of charcoal. The judges had never tasted Kenya like that.

Today, through Shabaya Limited and his work with the East African School of Coffee, Martin is building what the next generation of African baristas deserves. WBC-standard training spaces. Traceable green coffee programs. A louder voice for the farmers who started it all.

World No.5 · WBC Milan 20214× Kenya National Barista Champion3× Africa Barista ChampionSanremo Brand Ambassador, AfricaMaguta Estate signature blends
Our belief

Africa should not only produce coffee.Africa should define premium coffee.

For too long, African coffee has travelled the world without enough African ownership, branding, or storytelling. Our mission is to position Kenyan and African coffee as a premium experience, not a raw commodity. Every bag we sell carries the bigger belief.

  • African coffee deserves global respect.
  • African producers deserve greater value.
  • African brands deserve the luxury shelf.

This is not just coffee. This is origin, dignity, craft, and culture in a cup.

Read the champion storyRead the manifesto
Martin Shabaya at a Sanremo event in Africa
Official Brand Ambassador

Sanremo Coffee Machinesfor the African continent.

Since 2022, Martin has carried the Sanremo flag across Africa. Championing the machines that pulled his Milan finals routine. Putting them on the bars shaping the continent's next decade of coffee.

#BRAVE since 2022.

Read the Sanremo announcementSpec a machine for your bar
Shabaya Academy

Learn from the barista who took Kenya to the world stage.

Twelve courses across six levels. SCA-aligned certification. Championship coaching. Executive coffee business masterclasses. Cohorts open every month in Nairobi.

  • Intermediate3 days

    SCA Barista Foundations

    SCA-aligned certification in three focused days.

    Our SCA-aligned Barista Foundations programme. Bar workflow, extraction theory, milk fundamentals, latte art, sanitation, and customer service. Every hour is on the bar.

    From KSh 45,000Details →
  • Signature3 days

    The Shabaya Method: Championship-Grade Espresso

    The routine that took Martin to the Milan finals, taught bar-side.

    Our signature masterclass. Three days on the same bar, the same machine, and the same protocols that pulled Martin Shabaya's fifth-place World Barista Championship routine in Milan 2021. Includes the charcoal-bed espresso technique, milk-base science, and stage-craft.

    From KSh 120,000Details →
See the full curriculumApply for a seat
Made for

Coffee for people who
care about the detail.

From a single bag at home to a hotel-wide coffee programme, we scale to the moment. Same standard at every level.

  • Home Coffee Lovers

    Café-quality coffee for the kitchen counter, the slow morning, the focused hour. Brewed exactly the way you would order it.

    Order for home

  • Hotels, Restaurants & Cafés

    Distinctive Kenyan coffee for hospitality brands that refuse the commodity option. Recipe handover and team training included.

    Talk wholesale

  • Corporate Gifting

    Elegant, memorable coffee gifts for clients, partners, executives, and end-of-year hampers. Custom packaging on request.

    Plan a gift programme

  • Offices & Boardrooms

    Refined coffee for companies that treat hospitality as a strategic detail. Standing bean orders, machine support, barista training.

    Spec our office programme

  • Diaspora & Global Buyers

    African coffee, African brand, shipped to your door. Taste the country you came from. Share it with the people you have arrived among.

    Order from abroad

  • Roasters & Importers

    Direct-trade green coffee from Kenyan estates we work with at lot level. Lot-level cupping reports. FCL or LCL shipping from Mombasa.

    Source green coffee
A decade on the bar

Championships, calibrations,
and one continent on the map.

The trophies opened doors. For Kenyan farmers. For African baristas. For origins the global stage had overlooked.

Martin Shabaya holding the World Barista Championship Fifth Place trophy, Milan 2021
On the podium

Four national titles. Three Africa titles. One WBC final.

Martin Shabaya at the World Coffee Championships venue, Milan
World stage

Africa's first finalist in the 22-year history of the WBC.

  1. 2017

    Kenya National Barista Champion

    First of four national titles. Begins competing on regional and continental stages.

  2. 2020

    Africa Barista Champion

    Wins the continental title, qualifying as Kenya's representative for the World Barista Championship.

  3. 2021

    World No.5 · WBC Milan

    First African finalist in WBC history. Showcases Kenyan Batian and Ruiru 11 with the now-iconic charcoal-bed espresso.

  4. 2022

    Sanremo Brand Ambassador

    Becomes the face of Sanremo Coffee Machines across the African continent. #BRAVE since.

  5. 2023

    Maguta Estate signature blends

    Curates a collaborative line of farm-to-cup coffees with the Maguta Estate in Kenya's Mount Kenya belt.

  6. Today

    Building the next generation

    Works with the East African School of Coffee to open WBC-standard training centers across the region.

Featured in

Where Martin's work has been told.

The journal

Notes on Kenyan & African coffee

Cover image for Why Kenyan coffee is a luxury product, not a grocery item
The Kenya Coffee Guide · 6 min read

Why Kenyan coffee is a luxury product, not a grocery item

Most of the world sells coffee like sugar. Kenya grows it like wine. The case for treating Kenyan specialty as the luxury export it actually is.

Martin Shabaya20 May 2026
Cover image for Kenya AA, AB, PB explained: a buyer's guide to the grades
The Kenya Coffee Guide · 5 min read

Kenya AA, AB, PB explained: a buyer's guide to the grades

Kenyan coffee is sorted into grades by bean size, not by quality alone. Here is what AA, AB, PB, and the smaller grades actually mean, and how to use the labels when you shop.

Martin Shabaya18 May 2026
Cover image for How to taste coffee like a professional
Taste & Brewing School · 5 min read

How to taste coffee like a professional

Most people drink coffee without tasting it. A simple, repeatable home protocol that trains your palate to find acidity, sweetness, body and finish in any cup.

Martin Shabaya16 May 2026
Read all posts →
Frequently asked

The questions we get the most.

Short, honest answers. If your question is not here, send us an email and we will answer it the same way.

  • Kenyan coffee is loved for its bright acidity, complex flavour, fruity notes, floral aroma, and clean finish. It is grown on phosphorus-rich volcanic soils between 1,500 and 2,100 metres above sea level, processed by a unique double-fermentation washed method, and graded and traced at lot level. It is one of the most recognisable and respected coffee origins in the world.

  • We offer selected single-origin Kenyan coffees from specific estates and cooperatives, alongside carefully developed African blends. Each bag carries the origin, harvest year, processing, cultivar, and roast date so you know exactly what you are drinking.

  • Both. Whole bean is our default for the freshest cup and the most control. We grind to order for filter, espresso, French press, AeroPress, or moka pot on request.

  • Yes. Our premium coffee gift boxes are designed for corporate gifting, client appreciation, executive hampers, and personal occasions. Custom packaging and bulk programmes available. Get in touch and we will spec a programme for you.

  • Keep it in an airtight container, away from direct sunlight, heat, and moisture. Do not freeze it. Use it within four weeks of the roast date for the best cup. The roast date is on every bag.

  • Kenyan coffee shines with pour-over, French press, AeroPress, and filter brewing. For espresso, we recommend a slightly coarser grind than you might expect, around 94 to 96°C water temperature, and a brew ratio between 1:2 and 1:2.3. We hand over recipes with every wholesale account.

  • Yes. We ship roasted coffee to most countries with reasonable courier coverage. International orders go out within 48 hours of roast date so the coffee arrives fresh. Send us an email and we will quote shipping for your country.

  • Yes. We host cupping sessions, barista workshops, and roaster open days year-round in Nairobi. We also run multi-day Africa coffee farm tours through Kenya's coffee belt and beyond. Tell us what you would like to see and we will design a visit.

Get in touch

Let's build the
next great cup together.

Sourcing a container of Kenyan AA. Opening your first cafe. Prepping for a championship stage. Planning a farm tour. We want to hear what you are building.

Email
shabaya7@gmail.com
Phone / WhatsApp
+254 736 044 664
Location
Nairobi, Kenya

We reply within two working days, often faster. For media or press, mention the publication in your subject line.