Kenija | Nyeri, AA, Mazgāta

Country: Kenya

Region: Nyeri

Kiandu washing station

Owner: Mutheka cooperative

Taste Notes - Red currant and blackberry jam, premium tomato juice, chocolate ice cream.

The Muheka cooperatives give growers control to selectively handpick and deliver only the ripest cherries to the factory. Also, an additional selection of cherries was performed at the factory before pulping, ensuring cup quality and batch consistency.

Extended story

Kiandu is part of the Mutheka FCS, which consists of nearly 5,643 active members. Each member on average owns about 225 coffee trees, and most farms also grow other crops such as corn, beans, and cassava.

Farmers here mainly grow the SL28 and SL34 varieties, but as with almost all cooperatives in Kenya, they can be mixed with other cultivars such as Ruiru 11 and Batian; Although the latter are present in a very small proportion compared to the SL.

In Kenya, when a factory processes coffees from many different smallholders, sorting the cherries is the most important step in ensuring cup quality and batch consistency. The cooperatives give these growers more control to selectively handpick and deliver only the ripest cherries to the factory, but additional cherries selection is also done at the factory before pulping.

This lot was processed using the fully washed method, where a dry fermentation is carried out after pulping. Then, once the coffee is washed in concrete channels, it is soaked in clean water for 48 hours to ensure that no mucilage remains on the parchment, which is also known as double fermentation.