Kenya Red Kegwa Filter Single Origin

The name isn’t a marketing puzzle. “Red” refers to two things: the red volcanic clay soil in Kirinyaga and the red fruit character that defines this coffee in the cup. Kegwa is the washing station where the coffee cherries are processed.

Red Kegwa isn’t a classic single-farm coffee. Around 4,500 small farms belong to the Ngiriambu Farmers’ Cooperative Union and deliver their coffee cherries to Kegwa Station. About two million kilograms of coffee cherries are processed there each year.

This scale makes the coffee interesting, because quantity and precision don’t have to be at odds. The system behind it is what matters. The cherries are sorted before pulping, fermented overnight, washed, and graded by quality. The parchment coffee is then dried on raised beds for 8 to 14 days.

The controlled processing keeps the cup profile clear and brings out the structure of the SL28, SL34, and R11 varieties. The result is an 87-point filter coffee with red fruit, citrusy brightness, and a sweetness that holds it all together.

We wanted a coffee from Kenya that wasn’t all about acidity. Red Kegwa brings fruit, sweetness, and structure together.