About Kahiwa Coffee Roasters
Kahiwa is a Finnish roastery from the picturesque town of Lahti.
We are a coffee roaster based in the beautiful, small town of Lahti. In addition to our roastery, we also have an atmospheric wine café! Our passion is not only to provide the best coffee, but also to offer our customers great wine. During the day cafe, in the evening wine bar.
If possible, we buy our selected coffee directly from farmers or through partners who ensure the transparency of the purchasing process down to the level of farmers. We believe that good coffee only exists when farmers are doing well and are satisfied. Only then can we add our own expertise and passion to create unforgettable taste experiences and change, one cup at a time, the perception of what coffee can be like!
It all started in Kenya! Joonas Reinikainens' grandparents lived most of their lives in Embu, Kenya. When visiting his grandparents' farm, Reinikainen first became acquainted with the world of coffee. The grandparents lived near Mount Kenya, an area that is extremely famous for its coffee farms. On one of his trips, Reinikainen met a neighboring coffee farm and a farmer who has been growing coffee in the same place for more than 50 years. What Reinikainen noticed was quite dramatic. The coffee farm and all the trees were in terrible condition, although the area was known for its high quality coffee. Chief farmer Muchangi Muriithi told Reinikainen that due to small profits, the family had no one to take over the farm. Young people would rather go to universities in larger cities and Europe than to continue on a family farm.
In 2013, he ensured that the first batch of raw coffee for direct trade reached Finland. After the first batch of coffee arrived, the import took place in cooperation with predominantly Kenyan farms, while the roasting took place in other roasters. At that time, Reinikainens' plans for the future and knowledge of coffee reached such a level that in 2015 Reinikainen bought a 2 kg Discaf fryer and began roasting.
The roastery was doing very well, gaining its loyal customers who shopped online or visited a coffee shop.
The year 2020, with the advent of the Covid-19 world pandemic, affected us all, and it was no different with Kahiwa. However, this year also brought positive changes for the roastery. Due to the pandemic, the well-known Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas has returned to his hometown of Lahti. While exploring the Finnish coffee world, he also discovered Kahiwu, who impressed him with her coffee and vision so much that he became its proud co-owner the same year.
Since then, he has traveled with coffee from Kahiwa to all races and seeks to spread awareness of vintage coffee to other pilots and F1 team members.
"It never occurred to me that after years of traveling around the world, I would find the best coffee so close to the 'starting line' of my journey. But I think that's often the case! It's amazing to be part of the Kahiwa team and still learning new things about one of my passions, coffee! "
Among the most interesting activities of V. Bottas as a member of Kahiwa was his participation as a judge at the 2021 Aeropress Finnish Championship, which Kahiwa co-organized and at the same time the competitor Tuomas Merikanto, who competed with their coffee, also became the winner.