Kenya — Guchienda Estate AA Separation SL28 (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍇 Ripe Currants • 🌹 Rose Hips • 🍅 Tree Tomato

DETAILS

• Producer: Edwin & Benson Guchienda (with Esther Guchienda)
• Farm: Guchienda Estate
• Region: Kibugu, Embu County, Kenya
• Varietal: SL28
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 1,800 MASL
• Harvest: December 2025
• Size: 250g

INTRO

SEY have been working with Guchienda Estate for several years, and each new harvest reaffirms why this project holds such a special place in their sourcing. Full credit to Edwin, Benson, and their mother Esther — this is another exceptional chapter from a consistently outstanding estate. In the cup we find ripe currants, rose hips, and tree tomato.

THE PRODUCER

Guchienda Estate is a rare and inspiring example of a single-estate coffee project in Kenya — a country where coffee has traditionally been purchased through large cooperative washing stations, making transparency and traceability difficult at best. Working directly with a single estate allows SEY to push for clarity on every front: variety separations, soil health, and a more direct relationship between roaster and farm.

The estate is managed by brothers Edwin and Benson Guchienda, alongside their mother Esther — a family operation that has consistently delivered some of the finest Kenyan profiles SEY taste each season. This is an estate that sets the bar for what Kenyan single-estate coffee can be.

THE PROCESS

The Washed process at Guchienda Estate involves:

• 🍒 Selective Harvest — Hand-picked at peak ripeness
• ✅ Hand Sorting — Cherries hand-sorted to ensure only the very best are selected
• 🔧 Depulping — De-pulped the same day
• 🧪 Fermentation — Fermented for approximately 24 hours
• 💧 Channel Washing — Floated through channels to sort by density and remove remaining defects
• 💧 Overnight Soak — Soaked overnight in fresh water
• ☀️ Raised Bed Drying — Dried on raised beds for 15 days, continually turned and hand-sorted throughout

This meticulous approach — particularly the double sorting and extended raised-bed drying — contributes to the exceptional clarity and complexity that defines this AA separation.

THE CUP

A quintessential expression of high-altitude Kenyan coffee from one of the country's finest single estates. The SL28 variety at Guchienda Estate delivers a complex, layered profile with the classic Kenyan combination of deep fruit, florality, and savoury intrigue.

Flavour Notes

• 🍇 Ripe Currants
• 🌹 Rose Hips
• 🍅 Tree Tomato