SL-28, SL-34 varieties, washed process
Roasted for filter brewing

Forest fruits, raspberry, and dried orange

This coffee comes to us from the Kainamui washing station in Kirinyaga, Kenya.

Around 1,800 smallholder farmers – members of the New Ngariama Farmers Co-operative Society – grow this coffee on the slopes of Mt. Kenya.

While the washing station is at 1,400 metres elevation, the farms are located between 1,500 to 1,900 metres in altitude, meaning slower ripening and denser, more complex coffee.

For the most part, this coffee is made up of traditional SL-28 and SL-34 varieties, though as with most Kenyan coffee production, there are increasing amounts of K-7, Ruiru 11, Batian, and other varieties being included.

Processing is largely traditional for the region, with the cherries being pulped using a 3-disc pulper before being density graded in washing channels. The two higher grades are fermented and washed before being graded again and readied for up to 21 days of drying on raised beds.

Once dried and ready for export, the coffee is ‘dry milled’ where the papery layer protecting the coffee bean is removed. The beans are then graded by size, with AA being the largest, followed by AB and then PB — the peaberry. This year, we’ve chosen to buy all three screen sizes from Kainamui.

We’re finding this year’s Kainamui to be bright, juicy, and redolent of fresh raspberries and other red fruits. There’s a subtle floral quality underpinned by the complex sweetness of dried orange slices.

This is the fifth consecutive year we’ve purchased from Kainamui, having done so through our import partner, Cafe Imports.