Kenya — Rumukia Farmers Cooperative Society Kagunyu Factory SL28 & SL34 Peaberry (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🫐 Berries • 🫐 Red Currant • 🫐 Blackberry

DETAILS

• Producer: Rumukia Farmers Cooperative Society
• Station: Kagunyu Factory
• Region: Mukurweini, Nyeri, Kenya
• Varietal: SL28 & SL34 (Peaberry)
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 1,600–1,700 MASL
• Size: 200g

INTRO

From the Kagunyu factory in Mukurweini — a peaberry separation from the Rumukia Farmers Cooperative Society, one of Nyeri's largest and most well-organised smallholder cooperatives. Selected by Mazelab for its dark berry character — the concentrated sweetness and intensity that peaberry separations deliver at their best. In the cup: berries, red currant, and blackberry, with the kind of acidity you expect from Nyeri.

THE PRODUCER

The Rumukia Farmers Cooperative Society sits in Mukurweini, in the south of Nyeri near the Murang'a and Kirinyaga border — one of the classic coffee zones of the Kenyan highlands. A large smallholder cooperative, Rumukia gathers cherry from thousands of member farmers across around eight washing stations, running its own dry mill at Thunguri. Most members tend just a few hundred SL28 and SL34 trees each on small plots on the slopes between Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare ranges, picking and delivering their cherry by hand. Pooling the harvest of so many small farms through shared, well-run wet mills is what gives Rumukia coffees their consistent dark berry fruit and bright acidity.

This peaberry separation comes from Kagunyu — one of the cooperative's factories. Peaberry means the cherry formed a single round bean instead of two — smaller and denser, they tend to give a more concentrated cup. SL28 and SL34, selected by Scott Laboratories in the 1930s, are the backbone of the Kagunyu membership — SL28 delivering the intense blackcurrant and citrus that define classic Kenyan coffee, SL34 thriving alongside it at higher altitudes and heavier rainfall, sharing the same rich, sweet complexity.

THE PROCESS

The Washed process at Kagunyu involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Ripe cherries selectively harvested by cooperative member farmers and delivered to the factory 🔧 Pulping — Outer skin removed before fermentation 🧪 Fermentation — Beans fermented to break down remaining mucilage 💧 Washing — Thoroughly washed after fermentation ☀️ Raised-bed drying — Dried on raised beds to optimal moisture content 🔍 Peaberry separation — Screen-sorted to isolate the naturally rounded peaberry beans as a distinct lot

The peaberry separation is the defining step — by isolating the naturally concentrated rounded beans, Kagunyu produces a cup of greater intensity and density than the standard AA or AB grades, with the dark berry fruit and red currant acidity that make Nyeri peaberries so sought after.

THE CUP

A concentrated, dark-fruited, and classically structured washed Kenyan peaberry from one of Nyeri's most well-organised cooperative societies — berries, red currant, and blackberry with the bright acidity that defines great Nyeri coffee. Mazelab's pick for berry character, and fully delivering on that promise.

Flavour Notes

🫐 Berries 🫐 Red Currant 🫐 Blackberry