he Karani Factory is in the Kabare location of the Gichungu Division of the Kirinyaga County. Situated at the foothills of Mt. Kenya, Kirinyaga County is roughly 112 km from Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, bordering the Embu County to the East, Machakos to the South, Murang’a to the Southwest, and Nyeri to the West.

The locals in this area call Mt. Kenya Kirinyaga, the namesake of the county, meaning the crest of whiteness due to the famous snow-capped peaks. The Karani Factory, or wet mill, is associated with the Kabare Farmers’ Cooperative Society comprising nine other factories within the area.

The coffee trees are carefully monitored and picking ensues only when the cherry is at the ideal level of ripeness. Picking occurs in the morning and buckets of bright red coffee cherries are carried to the mill. As the sun traverses across the sky into the afternoon, the cherries are piled high as underripe cherries and foreign objects are removed from the gleaming pile. The cherries are then poured into a hopper located just above the pulping station.

From here, clean water from the River Ragati is drawn upwards and directed into the hopper to cover the coffee. This force pushes the cherries down a chute into the pulping house. Here, the outer pulp is removed thanks to the work of two rotating abrasive slabs. The de-pulped coffee is then moved via the force of a water channel towards a fermentation tank. Along the way, floaters, or lower quality coffee beans, are removed to ensure only the highest quality continue along the process. The denser beans are funnelled through a hole where they land into a fermentation tank to rest for the evening.

The following morning, workers assess the feel of the sticky mucilage remaining on the coffee. If it has reached the ideal level, water is placed over the beans to give them a final wash. From here, sluice gates open to move the coffee into washing channels where the coffee slides down a gently sloping tiled channel. Wooden shunts used by workers are manually placed into the coffee to separate the denser beans from the lighter beans.