Arabica coffee beans KENYA GICHERORI

The total area under coffee cultivation in Kenya is estimated at 160,000 hectares. Plantations make up about one-third of the area. However, the most significant part of the land is used by smallholder farmers who assign themselves to cooperatives.

This coffee comes from the Gicherori factory near Embu in Kenya’s Central Province on the beautiful southern slopes of Mt. Kenya. This region is famous for its rich soils with volcanic clay and good microclimate with enough rains.

Gicherori belongs together with the Kathkwa, Ndunduri, Gikirima, and Ngerwe factories to the Kibugu Farmers Cooperative Society. Around 1.100 farmers deliver their red and ripe cherries to the Gicherori factory. Here the coffees are pulped with adisc pulper and flow into a fermentation tank for a controlled fermentation process. After that, the coffee is washed, soaked in water channels, and sun-dried on the African drying beds for up to 15 days, carefully covered during midday and at night.

At the washing station, the water is treated in soak pits to avoid contaminating the local rivers and streams. After treatment, it is brought back into the normal water cycle. Indigenous trees are protected to ensure birds a natural home and ensure biodiversity.