Kenya — Mwirua Farmers' Cooperative Society Gathambi Factory SL-28, SL-34, Ruiru 11 & Batian (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍎 Pomegranate • 🍑 Apricot • 🍊 Blood Orange

DETAILS

• Producer: Mwirua Farmers' Cooperative Society (various smallholders)
• Factory: Gathambi
• Region: Kirinyaga, Kenya
• Varietal: SL-28, SL-34, Ruiru 11 & Batian
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 1,700–1,900 masl
• Roast Level: Light
• Price Paid: $18.23 USD/kg (imported via Apex)

INTRO
September's first time featuring a coffee from the Mwirua Farmers' Cooperative Society, this lot from the Gathambi Factory. Complex and sparkling like pomegranate, light-bodied and citric, reminiscent of blood oranges and grapefruits. In the cup: juicy pomegranate, sweet stone fruit like apricot, and a blood orange citric acidity.

THE PRODUCER
The Mwirua Farmers' Cooperative Society was established in 1954 and manages several affiliated coffee factories in the area. It represents thousands of smallholder farmers, supporting its farming communities through training, improved agronomic practices, and sustainability-focused initiatives that strengthen farmer livelihoods, protect natural resources, and ensure the long-term viability of coffee production in Kirinyaga County.

SL-28 is among the best-known and best-regarded varieties of Africa, originally selected in Kenya in the 1930s, suited to medium to high altitudes and drought-resistant but susceptible to the major coffee diseases. It is notable for its rusticity: it can be left untended for years or even decades and then return to successful production, and there are 60–80-year-old SL-28 trees still productive in Kenya. Batian, released in Kenya in 2010, is a composite variety resistant to coffee leaf rust and coffee berry disease, created at the Coffee Research Station in Ruiru.

THE PROCESS
A disc pulper removes the skin and pulp from freshly harvested cherries, and the coffee is separated by density into three grades. The selected coffees undergo a traditional fermentation of 6 to 8 hours, after which the parchment is thoroughly washed and soaked for an additional 16 to 18 hours in fresh, clean water. The parchment is then sun-dried for 8 to 14 days on raised beds.

The two-stage fermentation and extended clean-water soak is the defining combination. It's what builds the clean, sparkling pomegranate and blood orange character behind this cup.

THE CUP
Sparkling and citric: juicy pomegranate leads, with sweet stone fruit like apricot and a blood orange acidity. Round body with a sparkling finish.

Flavour Notes
🍎 Pomegranate 🍑 Apricot 🍊 Blood Orange