Accra · Ghana

Kawa Moka

Kawa Moka roasts in Accra, Greater Accra (roastery); Leklebi, Volta Region (sourcing).

Since 2015 · Emi-Beth Aku Quantson

Overview

Kawa Moka is Ghana's first specialty coffee roaster — a 100% women-owned operation founded in 2015 by Emi-Beth Aku Quantson, an Ashesi University grad and former PwC chartered accountant who returned to Ghana to build a coffee company on local Robusta. Kawa Moka now sources from 450+ smallholders across four coffee enclaves in Ghana's coffee belt, runs a fully solar-powered roastery, and exports to Japan, the US, the UK, Europe, Canada, and across Africa.

Known for

Ghana first specialty coffee roaster (2015)
100% women-owned
Specialty Robusta and Arabusta — wild shade-grown in Leklebi, Volta Region
Solar-powered roastery (Ghana Climate Innovation Centre supported)
Founder Emi-Beth Quantson serves on the SCA board
VortxKleanAir CO2 reduction installation

Why it matters

Ghana's coffee identity has been a footnote to its dominant cocoa industry for a century, and Robusta has historically been considered commodity-grade by the global specialty world. Kawa Moka's 2015 founding made the case that fine Robusta and Arabusta — long-disrespected by the third wave — can hit specialty quality, and the operation has become the visible anchor of an emergent Ghanaian specialty scene that now includes Jamestown Coffee Roasters, Gold Coast Roasters, and Asili Coffee.

Production

head roaster: George (master roaster)
roaster machine: Commercial roaster (~$40,000 — purchased after American-roasting-expert training)
roastery location: Accra, Ghana (solar-powered)

Recognitions

ITC ACP Business-Friendly Coffee Project participant
Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Program recipient
Ghana Climate Innovation Centre clean-tech beneficiary
MTPak Coffee Excellence Awards finalist

Sources

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