Harvest and Processing

Selective Reception & Hand-Sorting: Smallholders deliver red cherries harvested that morning. Cherries undergo flotation to skim off low-density "mbuni" (floaters/underdeveloped cherries) and hand-sorting for defects before hitting the hopper.
Disc Depulping: A multi-disc pulper strips the skin and outer pulp, mechanically separating the coffee into density streams (Grades 1, 2, and 3).
Double Fermentation: Depulped seeds rest in concrete fermentation tanks under ambient shade for roughly 16 to 24 hours to break down the dense mucilage enzymatically. They are then washed with fresh water and often steeped under cold, fresh river water for an additional 12 to 24 hours. This clean soak removes residual sugars and promotes the trademark clean cup and high organic acid definition of central Kenyan coffees.
Grading Channels: The clean parchment is agitated along inclined concrete washing channels. Denser beans sink early (destined for AA and AB sorting), while lighter seeds wash further down the flume.
Slow Sun Drying: Parchment dries on raised African timber and mesh beds over 10 to 18 days, depending on humidity and cloud cover. The parchment is turned continuously throughout the day and covered with breathable netting during the midday heat peak to prevent split parchment, as well as at night to protect against cold condensation and mountain dew.
Dry Milling & Grade AA Separation: Once conditioned to an optimal 10–11% internal moisture, the parchment rests in conditioning bins before dry milling in Karatina or Nyeri, where mechanical sizing screens sort the AA lot (screen size 17/18, 7.2 mm hole diameter).