KENYA Kiri Kirinyaga AB ESP

The Story Behind the Bean

Kiri Factory is located in Kirinyaga, on the southern slopes of Mount Kenya, and is managed by the Ngiriambu Farmers Cooperative Society. More than 3,500 members deliver their cherries here. They are all small-scale producers: the average coffee garden is less than one hectare. What one farmer picks in a day is combined with that of hundreds of others to make a single lot—and it is precisely this scale that makes selection at intake so important.

Smallholders & Kirinyaga

SL28 and SL34 are cultivars released by the Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the 1930s and 1940s. They have deep roots, drawing water from layers beyond the reach of other plants, and therefore perform well without irrigation. In Kirinyaga, at over 1,500 meters, the combination of altitude, volcanic soil, and slow ripening produces the dense, complex beans for which Kenya is known.

Processing & Quality

Only ripe cherries are hand-picked and delivered the same day. At intake, the cherry clerk visually inspects each delivery, and the cherries go through a water bath so that only the dense, ripe fruit moves on. Next comes pulping and fermentation for 24 to 36 hours, a thorough wash, and a 24-hour soak in clean water. The beans then dry for about twenty days on raised beds, where they are turned regularly and covered during the hottest hours and at night—slow, even drying is the whole art here.

Roasted a little darker for espresso: this tames the sharpest edges of the acidity and brings the red fruit and candied sweetness to the fore, with dried fig in the finish. It works well as a straight espresso, but also holds up nicely in milk. This coffee came to us through green bean trader Sucafina.