Maasai Warriors Visit the Starbucks Roastery: ‘We Live in a Small World’

Traditionally Kenya's Maasai warriors hunted lions and protected their communities, fending off predators and other threats as they tended their livestock.

Today's Maasai warriors are different, said Wilson Meikuaya and Jackson Ntirkama, co-authors of the autobiography 'The Last Maasai Warriors.' The pair shared the story of their culture and changing way of life at a visit to the Starbucks Reserve® Roastery with a tasting of Starbucks Reserve® Kenya Kariaini coffee.

Meikuaya and Ntirkama, featured speakers at We Day Seattle, told the gathering of Starbucks partners and coffee enthusiasts how, as the role of the Maasai warrior on the African savannah has slowly vanished, they have shifted their focus to fighting for education and their culture.

Watching freshly roasted Kenyan beans pour into the cooling tray, Meikuaya commented how wonderful it was to see coffee produced in his own country being roasted and enjoyed at the Roastery. After tasting the coffee, and commenting about how people in his own country worked to grow that coffee, he smiled and said, 'We live in a small world.'

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