Kirigu factory
Kirigu Factory is affiliated to Gakuyu Farmers’ Cooperative Society and located in Nyeri County. On average, producers in this area have very small farms with only 250 trees. In the smallholder sector, harvesting is carried out by careful hand selection when the coffee cherries are perfectly ripe and is delivered to the farmers’ wet mills the very same day. Cherry sorting is carried out to ensure only the very best cherries are used and inferior quality cherries removed. The pulping, fermenting and washing process is closely supervised, before the parchment is moved to the drying tables for slow sun drying on the famous African beds. Here is it regularly turned and protected from the harsh midday sun. When the coffee has been properly dried and conditioned the cooperative society will move it to the dry mill for secondary processing where the coffee is graded.
Nyeri region
Nyeri is situated between Mt. Kenya and the Aberadare Mountains, creating a perfect geographic and climactic area for coffee production. This area is historically the center of Kenya’s coffee production due to the rich soil and fresh water moving through the area from the mountains. This region is home to the Kikuyu people, who have resided between the mountains for centuries. This area is rich with forests, wildlife, eucalyptus, bamboo, and rainforests.
About this coffee
Cupping score: 87.50
Processing station: Kirigu Factory
Producer: Gakuyu coop
Region: Nyeri
Altitude: 1575 MASL
Variety: SL28, SL34 – peaberry
Processing: washed
Variety
SL-28 – Selected by Scott Laboratories (1935–1939) from a line of Tanganyika Drought Resistant I trees; possible heritage to Yemen
SL-34 – Selected by Scott Laboratories (1935–1939) from a tree on a single farm in Kabete
Kenyan washed process
Kenyan coffees are first de-pulped to remove the fruit from around the bean, then are fermented and washed—sometimes in more than one cycle of both—and soaked in water. The beans are then dried and rested on specially built raised beds.
