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Accra · Ghana

Kawa Moka

Since 2015 · Emi-Beth Aku Quantson

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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

destoning
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head roaster
George (master roaster)
color sorting
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roaster machine
Commercial roaster (~$40,000 — purchased after American-roasting-expert training)
filter equipment
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cupping frequency
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roastery location
Accra, Ghana (solar-powered)
espresso equipment
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annual volume tonnes
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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

More roasters