Gathaithi – AA – Nyeri  Microlot

Nyeri is situated between Mt. Kenya and the Aberadare Mountains, creating a perfect geographic and climactic area for coffee production. This area is historically the centre of Kenya’s coffee production due to the rich soil and fresh water moving through the area from the mountains. This region is home to the Kikuyu people, who have resided between the mountains for centuries. This area is rich with forests, wildlife, eucalyptus, bamboo, and rainforests.

Microlots from Kenya are traceable to either the factory level or individual farm level (when possible), and are selected basis cup score. Because the majority of coffee farmers in Kenya own between 1/8–1/4 a hectare of land, most deliver coffee in cherry form to a local factory for sorting and processing; at the factory, the deliveries are blended and processed into day lots comprising the day’ s deliveries. Our green buyer for Kenya typically takes up residency in Kenya during the harvest due to the sheer number of samples to be cupped and selects the best of these lots to purchase as microlots (fewer than 100 bags)

Factory: 1,117 smallholder farmer members of Gathaithi Farmer Cooperative Society

Gathaithi Factory is operated by Gathaithi Farmers Cooperative Society, which has more than 1,100 active members, who farm on about 143 hectares of land in the area. The total production for the cooperative is around 102,000 kgs.

Most of Kenya’s coffee is produced by smallholders delivering to factories (central processing units) who predominantly produce Washed coffees. Estates are also best-known for their Washed lots. The Washed process in Kenya may vary slightly from place to place, but it generally contains a soaking step that is unique to this growing country. First the coffee is picked ripe and depulped the same day, then it is normally fermented in open-air tanks made of concrete or cement for 24–48 hours. It’s then washed thoroughly using water channels before being soaked underwater for 12–72 hours. It is then spread on raised beds to dry