Climpson and Sons - Single Origin: Karinga AB, Kenya

GOLDEN PLUM – NECTARINE - HONEY

Production process: All coffees are pulped, dry fermented, washed, soaked and sundried. Cherries are hand sorted for unripes and overripes by the farmers before they go in to production. A disc pulping machine removes the skin and pulp. The coffees are graded by density in to 3 grades by the pulper. Grade 1 and 2 go separately to fermentation as grade 3 is considered low grade. The coffee is fermented for 16-24 hours under closed shade. After fermentation the coffees are washed and again graded by density in washing channels and are then soaked under clean water for 16-18 hours. Drying: Sun dried up to 21 days on African drying beds. Coffees are covered in plastic during midday and at night. Soil: Mainly Nitisol. Nitisols occur in highlands and on volcanic steep slopes. They are developed from volcanic rocks and have better chemical and physical properties than other tropical soils.

Karinga Coffee Factory (wetmill) is located in Kirinyaga in the Central Province. It is affiliated to Gitwe Farmers Co-operative Society, consisting of around 600 farmers. The factory is surrounded by tea-growing zones. Most farmers are tea growing people, thus most of them tend to grow tea more than coffee. But the management now is encouraging farmers to go back to growing coffee because the price of cherry is going up.

Local research stations are developing coffees to suit the area so that affiliate members of the factory can source these coffees and carry out all agronomic activities associated with coffee production and plant it according to the stipulated guidelines. Fieldwork carried out involves weeding, pruning, spraying, and application of fertilizer, mulching and technical advice. Technical advice is offered through farmer training programs and field visits/days offered by ministry of agriculture. Compliance to the agreed guidelines is checked and supervised by the field committee which goes round the farms. They usually check that coffee is not inter-grown with other crops such as maize and Beans, though they do allow intercropping with Macadamia.

This coffee is sourced based on its unique flavor profile and standout cup quality. It is carefully selected out of a broad range of coffees cupped just after the harvest. The coffee is purchased directly from the producer, and has justified a premium price due to its attributes and clean cup, which are a result of good processing practices. The Cooperative wet mill qualifies to our ethical and environmental standards and they have the required systems for quality control on processing, grading and lot separation.

Altitude: 1850 masl
Farm/Coop: Wet mill: Karinga Factory. About 600 smallholders, part of the Gitwe Farmers Co-operative.
Great for: Aeropress, Cafetiere, Filter, With milk
Origin: Africa/Kenya - Kirinyaga region
Tasting Notes: GOLDEN PLUM – NECTARINE - HONEY
Varietals: SL 28, SL 34 (99%) and Ruiru 11 (1%)

Roasterr: Climpson and Sons

Climpson and Sons does not deliver to United Kingdom