Clifton Coffee Roasters: Kenya, Doondu Estate, Anaerobic fermentation

Kiambu County is located just outside of Nairobi city. The region has a long history of coffee production and is famous for its large estates, which were originally built by British colonists in the early 20th century. After decolonisation, the estates were sold to local Kenyans who have been managing them since. While estates such as this used to produce the majority of Kenyan coffee, the increased urban sprawl from Nairobi, as well as the increasing land value in the region has meant that estate coffee production has gradually diminished, while smallholder production elsewhere has increased. Nevertheless, estates such as Doondu continue a legacy of many generations of coffee production, supported by unparalleled local knowledge and experience.

This coffee utilises an extended fermentation process to develop acidity and complexity. Ripe coffee cherries are carefully selected and floated in clean water to remove any immature or poor quality cherries, which float to the top of the tank. These top cherries are then pulped to remove the cherry fruit and then packed into sealed GrainPro bags for 3 days to ferment. After fermentation, the cherries are dried in the sun on raised African beds for up to 6 weeks. After the cherries reach their optimum moisture content of 12.5% they are rested prior to secondary processing (hulling, grading and hand-picking).