Kenya — Karatu Coffee Factory SL-28 Peaberry (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍦 Vanilla • 🪴 Tobacco • 🍒 Dried Cherry

DETAILS

• Factory: Karatu Coffee Factory
• Region: Gatundu, Kiambu (Thika District), Kenya
• Varietal: SL-28 (90%+) & Various
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 1,850 masl
• Harvest: November 2025
• Lot: Peaberry

INTRO A well-balanced Kenyan peaberry, offered specifically as a coffee that isn't overwhelming with acidity while still holding a solid structure and a weighted, tea-like intricacy. Vanilla and dried cherry sweetness sit alongside a tobacco depth, with cacao, black cherry, melon, and soft citrus sugar notes rounding out the cup. In the cup: vanilla, tobacco, and dried cherry.

THE PRODUCER Karatu Coffee Factory sits in Central Province, Thika District, in the Ndarugu location of Gatundu Division near Gatundu town. Established in 1965 on 11 acres, it serves the Karatu, Gitwe, Kibiru, and Kigaa villages, where banana and maize grow alongside coffee, with grevillea and macadamia trees providing shade. In line with growing environmental awareness, the factory has relocated its waste water pits away from the water source, allowing waste water to soak back into the soil, and encourages members to plant trees on their farms.

This lot is peaberry — a natural occurrence where the coffee cherry produces just one seed instead of the usual two. An estimated 90%+ of this lot is SL-28, a prized variety known for its big fruit character, resilience, and juicy profile, genetically traced back to the Bourbon lineage of Coffea Arabica.

THE PROCESS After harvest, cherry is weighed at the factory, with smallholder farmers paid on the spot. The cherry passes through a disk de-pulper to remove most of the fruit, ferments for 24 hours, then is washed once more, bringing the total process to 72 hours. Drying on parchment takes anywhere from one to fifteen days, depending on climate and volume.

The peaberry separation is the defining detail here — isolating this naturally occurring single-seed lot is what gives the cup its distinct weighted, tea-like structure alongside the vanilla and dried cherry character.

THE CUP Balanced and structured — vanilla and dried cherry sweetness up front, a tobacco depth running through, with cacao, black cherry, melon, and soft citrus sugar notes rounding things out. A fun, well-balanced Kenyan peaberry suited to both immersion and filter brewing.

Flavour Notes 🍦 Vanilla 🪴 Tobacco 🍒 Dried Cherry