Kenya

Kenya is commonly described as having an almost sweet taste accompanied by wine-like or fruity overtones. They are well-known all over the world and sought after for their intense, full-bodied flavors accompanied by overtones of berry, citrus fruits, and mild floral fragrance.

REGION : Nyeri County, Kenya

FARMER : Smallholder farmers organized around the Ichamama Factory

VARIETY : SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, and Batian

PROCESS : Fully washed and dried on raised beds

SOIL : Volcanic loam 

ALTITUDE : 1740 masl

ROAST LEVEL : 3/5

AROMA : Sweet, Molasses

FLAVOR : Bright, Brown Sugar, Pineapple, Dark Chocolate

ACIDITY : High

BODY : Medium

WHY WE LIKE IT : Has all the attributes of an excellent African coffee - exciting high acidity, sugary sweet, and complex body

RECOMMENDED FOR : Someone seeking fruity and wine-like acidity

Nyeri is perhaps the most well-known of the central counties. Kenya’s coffee is dominated by a cooperative system of production, whose members vote on representation, marketing and milling contracts for their coffee, as well as profit allocation. Othaya Farmers Cooperative Society, the umbrella organization that includes Ichamama Factory, is one of Kenya’s larger societies, with 19 different factories and more than 14,000 farmer members across the southern Nyeri region.

Ichamama typically ferments for 27-35 hours depending on ambient conditions (the changing mountain climate, as for many processors, tends to dictate fermentation temperatures, and processing staff are required to check fermentation progress every three hours). After fermentation, the parchment is rinsed and the water replenished, and the clean parchment soaks for an additional 12 hours, after which it is sorted by density and brought to the tables to dry, typically for two weeks. After drying is complete the coffee is stored on site and eventually delivered to the Othaya dry mill for grading and a final density sort. The established milling and sorting by grade, or bean size, is a longstanding tradition and positions Kenya coffees well for roasters, by tightly controlling the physical preparation and creating a diversity of profiles from a single processing batch.