Kenya

Karinga AA Top

/Behind the story/

Karinga is one of four wet mills that belong to the Gitwe farmers cooperative society, located at less than a two hours drive from Nairobi in central-Kenya. This coffee is grown at around 1900 masl in Kiambu region, where the microclimate is cool and makes the coffee cherries ripen slowly and develop more flavor, acidity and sweetness. Most of the members who sell their coffee cherries to this wet mill grow mainly the SL 28 and SL 34 because of the good yields and exceptional quality at hush elevation. The Gitwe cooperative employs their own agronomist and they assist the farmers with know-how and advice throughout the growing season. That means the farmers are able to take good care of their coffee trees so that they are less affected by disease and produce high yields of excellent quality coffee every year. SL 28 along with SL34 is one of the most popular varieties grown in Kenya because of its high yields and superior quality in the cup. These varieties were a selection made by the Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the 1930’.

/Transparency and process/

The farmers sell coffee cherries to the wet mill and deliver cherries several times during the harvest season. Farmers are paid a price based on all the coffees they sold to the cooperative that year. Therefore, the cooperative by law charges no more than 20% of the selling price of the coffee. However, most of the wet mills from Kenya publish the prices they paid for their coffee on their notice boards for farmers. The wet mill will process and dry the coffee before they get sent to the local mill for storage. The coffee cherries are hand picked by the farmers and their family members. Coffee cherries are depulped and graded by using an Aagard disc de-pulper that uses water and gravity to sort dense beans from less dense beans. Then the coffee is moved to separate fermentation tanks where the parchment coffee is dry for 12-36 hours. After fermentation the coffee is washed in clean water and graded once again using the same method, once the grading is done the coffee is moved to dry on elevated drying tables for 10-14 days until the moisture level reaches 10-12%.

/Brew guide/
Age to drink: 5 days after roast
Coffee amount: 15g
Water amount: 250g, ppm 100-125
Temperature: 93-94 Celsius
Pours: 4 pours, 50g, 70g, 60g, 70g
Brewing time: 2:10-2:20