KENYA, Konyu, Kirinyanga

Producer: Kabare Farmers Coop Society.

Growing altitude: 1800m above sea level.

Botanical variety: SL28, SL34.

Process: Washed.

Tasting notes: Syrup, blackcurrant, lime, earl grey, elderflower flavours.

Roast date: 18 April, 2024

Kabare Farmers’ Cooperative Society (FCS) is the central management body for 11 different cooperatives in Kirinyaga County namely, Kiringa, Konyu, Karani, Kiangombe, Kaboyo, Mukure, Mukengeria, Kimandi, Kathata, Kiangothe, and Kiamiciri.

Combined, these groups represent almost 10,000 farming households, whose land spans from nearby Kerugoya town all the way to the forest border at Mt. Kenya National Park.

Konyu processing station, or “factory” as they’re known in Kenya, alone has 1000 contributing farmer members. Farmers belonging to Konyu average 250 kgs of picked cherry each, the same as roughly three-fourths of one 60kg bag of exportable green coffee. 

The region’s high altitude means that the coffee fruit is able to mature slowly, and this, combined with rich volcanic soil and careful processing, helps to highlight the inherent complex fruit flavours from the SL-28 and SL-34 varieties. 

All the coffee cherry is hand-picked by the small-holders and delivered on the same day to the washing station, where it undergoes meticulous processing.

Conservation is creeping into the discussion in certain places - understandably in the drier areas where water, due to climate change, cannot be as taken for granted, but for the most part Kenya cooperatives continue to thoroughly wash and soak their coffees according to tradition.

Cooperatives at Kabare FCS are no different, sorting their pulped and fermented coffee into 4 different density grades with the use of fresh nearby water, and conditioning the moisture of each grade independently during drying, before transport to the mill.