Kenya AB Thangaini Factory 2025

Kenya AB Thangaini

Thangaini Factory is located in Murang'a County, an area considered the birthplace of the Kikuyu community and the origin of the Mau Mau uprising—a rebellion in the 1950s aimed at reclaiming land from British colonizers. The factory operates under the Thangaini Farmers’ Cooperative Society, serving 900 members in Kenya’s central region.

Kenyan green coffee beans are renowned for their bold, fruit-forward flavors and complex acidity. This coffee was grown in nutrient-rich volcanic soil at 1,700 to 1,800 masl, slowly ripening at high altitudes in cool temperatures. The dominant varieties are SL-28, SL-34, Ruiru 11, and Batian.

Among Kenya’s most celebrated varieties are SL-28 and SL-34, 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. In 2010, the Coffee Research Institute (CRI) developed Batian, another resistant variety prized for its tall, hardy growth and suitability for smallholders.

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 of higher quality, size is not always a definitive measure 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 under developing.

When is Kenya’s Coffee Harvest Season?

Kenya’s main coffee harvest season runs from October to December. That means new crop coffees start shipping 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 sufficiently before the beans are washed 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.