Kenya AA Murarandia Factory 2025

Kenya AA Murarandia

Murarandia Factory is in Murang'a County, the birthplace of the Kikuyu community. The factory operates in Kenya’s central region under the Murarandia Farmers' Cooperative Society. The co-op also encompasseses Gatuya and Kahuro factories. It is managed by an elected board and a Secretary Manager, with seasonal workers brought in during peak harvest.

Kenyan green coffee beans are renowned for their bold, fruit-forward flavors and complex acidity. This coffee was grown in red, loamy soil at 1,600 to 1,800masl, slowly ripening at the high altitude in cool temperatures. The dominant varieties are SL-28 and SL-34, with small amounts of Ruiru 11.

Kenyan Coffee Varieties

Among Kenya’s most celebrated varieties are SL-28 and SL-34. Both were developed by Scott Agricultural Laboratories (hence, SL) in the 1930s for their drought resistance, exceptional cup quality, and high yield at elevated altitudes. Following a coffee berry disease (CBD) epidemic in 1968, the CBD-resistant Ruiru-11 varietal was introduced and quickly adopted nationwide.

How is Coffee Graded in Kenya?

Green coffee from Kenya is graded by screen size. The grades range from E (Elephant Bean), PB (peaberry), AA, AB, C, TT, T, and MH/ML for a total of eight grades. While bean size can be an indicator that leads to a better cup profile, size is not always the definitive attribute of quality.

A consistent screen size in a coffee lot is important for roasting consistency, as uniformly sized beans roast at the same rate. In contrast, a lot with mixed bean sizes can potentially lead to uneven roasting, with smaller beans overdeveloping and larger beans being under-developed.

When is Kenya’s Coffee Harvest Season?

Kenya’s main coffee harvest season is between October and December. That means new crop coffees start to ship around February and March. Kenya also has a fly crop with a smaller yield from April to July.

Washed Kenyan Coffee Beans

The coffee harvesting and processing in Kenya begins with careful monitoring of cherry ripeness, ensuring only fully red cherries are handpicked in the early morning and transported to the wet mill. In the afternoon, harvested cherries are spread out on a patio, where underripes, overripes, and foreign objects are sorted out before being funneled into the pulping station.

Clean water helps move the cherries through the pulping house, where their outer fruit is removed, and the beans are separated by density. Floating beans are skimmed off while denser beans move into fermentation tanks overnight. The next day, the wet mill manager assesses whether the sticky mucilage has broken down enough before washing the beans thoroughly.

Once cleaned, the beans flow into washing channels, where wooden shunts separate the denser, higher-quality beans from the lighter ones. Finally, the beans are carefully sun-dried on raised tables under strict supervision, covered and turned when necessary, and monitored until they reach the ideal 10-12% moisture content before being bagged for transport to the dry mill.

Kenya Green Coffee Beans

Kenya and Ethiopia may share a border, but their coffee industries have followed vastly different paths since the beginning. While coffee is native to Ethiopia, it wasn’t introduced to Kenya until 1893, when French missionaries planted the first trees in the Taita Hills.

For over a century, Kenya’s coffee could only be traded through a government-run auction system—one of the world's most transparent, designed to reward quality with higher prices. This system cemented Kenya’s reputation for consistently producing quality coffee. Since 2006, new legislation has allowed direct trade between farmers and international buyers.

Although Kenya’s coffee production declined in 2023/2024 due to disruptions from government reforms and the adoption of a new payment system, the outlook for this season is promising as operations stabilize and the industry adapts. Read more in our Kenya Origin Report.