From Hundred House Coffee:
This coffee is wet processed, where the fully ripe cherries are: Pulped, Fermented for 12 - 48 hours (depending on climatic conditions), Washed, Dried slowly over 2 - 3 weeks on raised African beds until the moisture content is reduced to 10-12%.
The coffee is then processed at Othaya dry mill where it is rested in parchment for 3 weeks before being hulled, cleaned and graded by bean size. Finally, the coffee is carefully handpicked before being bagged for export from Mombasa.
Nyeri County has cool temperatures and fertile central highlands, lying between the Eastern base of the Aberdare (Nyandarua) Range, which forms part of the Eastern end of the Great Rift Valley, and the Western slopes of Mt. Kenya. Nyeri town (county headquarters) acts as a destination for those visiting Aberdare National Park and Mt. Kenya. The combination of fertile soil, seasonal rainfall and high altitude provide the ideal climate for coffees characterised by high acidity, full body and ripe fruit flavours. Most coffees from Nyeri develop and mature slowly producing extra hard beans. This quality is also evident in the cup.
The Coffee industry is a very crucial sector to the Kenyan economy. As a key export earner, it is the fifth foreign exchange earner after tourism, tea, horticulture and remittances from Kenyans in the Diaspora. The coffee industry ensures the livelihood of more than 700,000 smallholder farmers representing 3.5mil farm families organized into co-operatives and producing 60% of Kenyan coffee. The balance comes from estates that are small, medium to large in size.
Known as the heart of Kenya's Black Gold coffee, coffee from the Nyeri region is known to develop and mature slowly producing extra hard beans. Like 90% Kenyan coffee, this lot has been wet processed, where the fully ripe cherries are pulped, fermented, washed and then dried over a period of 2-3 weeks at the Sagana Coffee Mill.
Kenyan coffee contains more than 800 different aromatic compounds. Grown on well drained volcanic soils, mostly around the snowcapped Mount Kenya, Aberdare Ranges, Mount Elgon, the lowlands of Ukambani and the Kisii Highlands.
The question with Kenyan coffee has always been why the farmers are so poorly paid, despite producing the best coffee in the world. Through working with cooperatives such as this, we help towards shifting the landscape of the coffee business to be something in support of the small farmers as opposed to the multinationals.
Flavour notes - Blackcurrant, Melted Butter and Peach
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