Kenya PB New Kiriti FCS 2023

Kayu Coffee Factory

The Kayu Factory is part of the New Kiriti Farmers Cooperative Society, along with the Gondo and Kirimahiga Factories in Murang’a County. The FCS was established in the late 1950s and is now managed by an elected board of seven members representing a zone surrounding two wet mills at 1,800masl.

This peaberry lot from Kayu Factory is full of bright acidity and with notes of grape, dark chocolate and brown sugar.

Kenya Green Coffee Beans

Kenya green coffee beans are celebrated for bold, fruit-forward flavors that pack a punch in complex acidity. SL-28 and SL-34 are two of the most well-known varietals grown here, developed by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the 1930s for drought resistance, exceptional cup quality, and large yield at high altitudes. After a coffee berry disease (CBD) epidemic in 1968, the CBD-immune Ruiru-11 varietal was developed and quickly adopted throughout the country.

Kenya coffee production has upheld quality and consistency throughout the years with detail-oriented management at the washing stations. Over 600,000 smallholder farmers around the country are organized into Farmer Cooperative Societies that oversee traceability and quality control for its membership body.

Kenya Coffee Processing

Producers handpick ripe cherries in the early morning and carry them to the wet mill, where the cherries are splayed out for sorting. Clean water is poured into the de-pulper, and the outer fruit of the cherries is removed between two rotating abrasive slabs. De-pulped beans sink into the fermentation tank, where they’re left overnight for the mucilage to break down.

The wet mill manager checks the fermentation tanks the next day and makes the decision to proceed with processing upon “feeling” the fermented parchment. As washed beans spill out into washing channels, producers repeatedly push the coffee with wooden shunts to sort beans by density. The denser, high-quality beans are then left to sun-dry on raised beds until they reach 10-12% moisture content.