Kenya AA Gikanda Ndaroini

Flavor Notes:

raspberry, strawberry, pie crust

Altitude: 1600m - 1800m

Varietal: Batian, SL28, SL34, and Ruiru 11.

Region: Nyeri

Process: Washed

In Kenya, most smallholders own between 1/8 and 1/4 hectare — tiny plots. They deliver ripe cherries to a central processing station (called a "factory" or washing station), where the day's combined deliveries are processed together. This is why traceability in Kenya stops at the factory level rather than the farm level for most lots.

The Ndaroini factory is located in the heart of Nyeri County, near the town of Karatina. The factory used to be affiliated with the Gikanda Farmers Cooperative Society, however they split three seasons ago and are now processing and operating on their own. 

When arriving at the factory, cherries are sorted to remove the under- and over-ripes. The cherries are then pulped on the same day and moved to the fermentation tanks for 12-18 hours before being washed and graded. The parchment is then dried for 10-14 days on the raised beds. The washing station is using an ecopulper, which requires much less water for processing. Farmers also take back the discarded coffee pulp to compost and use as fertilizer.

History of Coffee in Kenya

It seems likely that coffee grew wild within the region that would become Kenya, buried deep inside impenetrable forests, or perhaps hiding in plain sight; but it wasn’t until 1895 that missionaries both protestant and catholic attempted to grow coffee for commercial purposes. The 100 seeds from Reunion Island that would serve as progenitors to the Kenyan coffee industry arrived on a train, carried by priests belonging to an order known as “Holy Ghost Fathers.” On August 12th, 1899, they arrived at the spot that would quickly become the country’s capital city. One of the early protestant medical missionaries was Dr. Henry Scott. After his death in 1911, a new hospital complex was named after Dr. Scott and when the department of agriculture took over the complex in 1923 they kept the name: Scott Agricultural Laboratories, or “Scott Labs.” This is the origin of the “SL” in SL28, SL34 and other coffee varieties selected at the lab.