Outpost Coffee: Kenya, Kamwangi, Aa, Washed

The Kamwangi Factory (wet-mill) is one out of two wet mills of the “New Ngariama Cooperative Society” in Kirinyaga. They have proven to be very consistent on quality over the years, and have great systems for traceability and quality control.

The factory was registered in 1997. They are Rainforest Alliance certified and have established soaking pits for waste water treatment. Kamwangi collects cherries from about 1000 smallholders with an average of 0,4 hectares of coffees, about 250 trees each. Fermentation is done with Fresh River Water. The same water is recycled during the day through a recycling process enabling them to significantly reduce water consumption.

The New Ngariama Farmers Cooperative Society is in Kirinyaga in Central Kenya. Kirinyaga is located on the slopes of Mount Kenya and is neighboring the well-known region Nyeri.

Nyeri and Kirinyaga are known for coffees with intense, complex, and flavor-dense cup profiles. It is made up of mainly smallholder farms, each with some 100 trees. They are organized in Cooperative Societies that act as umbrella organizations for the Factories (wet-mills), where the small­holders deliver their coffee cherries for processing.

The soils around Mount Kenya is rich volcanic soils. 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.