Kenya — Gachatha Wet Mill SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, Batian (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍇 Blackcurrants • 🫐 Blackberries • 🍇 Raisins

DETAILS

• Producer: Several smallholder farmers

• Washing Station: Gachatha Wet Mill

• Region: Nyeri, Kenya

• Varietal: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, Batian

• Process: Washed

• Harvest: December 2025

• Size: 250g

• Roast: Choose Filter or Espresso

INTRO

This Kenyan coffee from the Gachatha wet mill has intense fruity flavours of blackcurrants, blackberries and raisins. This coffee is produced by several hundred farmers, most of them growing the famous Kenyan SL28 and SL34 cultivars.

THE PRODUCER

Tim has visited the Gachatha wet mill several times and even though it looks like most wet mills do in Nyeri, it has proven to be one of the best producers of high quality coffees in the area over many years. Although the wet mill mainly takes care of processing and drying the coffees delivered by its members, a well run wet mill is fundamental to producing high quality coffee year after year.

Apart from processing and drying well, the co-operative provides extensive training to their farmers, with a small demonstration plot at the wet mill where members receive training in good agricultural practices. The co-operative also grows seedlings of both coffee trees and shade trees that are distributed to their members. Whilst some have planted newer hybrids like Ruiru 11 and Batian, you can clearly taste the clean and fruity flavours in this coffee that are so common for the SL cultivars.

THE PROCESS

The Washed process at Gachatha involves:

• 🍒 Hand-Picking and Sorting — Cherries hand-picked by farmers and family, with good cherries separated from inferior ones by hand

• 🔧 De-Pulping and Grading — Depulped and graded using an old Aagard disc de-pulper, sorting dense beans from less dense beans by water and gravity

• 🧪 Dry Fermentation — 12–16 hours overnight with mucilage still on, in separate tanks by grade

• 🚿 Washing and Re-Grading — Washed in clean water and graded again by gravity, with dense beans dried separately from lower density beans

• ☀️ Raised Bed Drying — 10–14 days on elevated drying tables, hand-sorted and raked throughout the day, covered during hottest hours and at night to prevent condensation

The drying process finishes once moisture content reaches 10–12%, after which the coffees rest in conditioning bins before delivery to the dry mill and vacuum packing for shipment.

THE CUP

Intense fruity flavours of blackcurrants, blackberries and raisins define this coffee. Despite some farmers planting newer hybrid cultivars, the coffee from Gachatha retains the recognisable intense fruity character expected from the traditional SL cultivars—a testament to the wet mill's consistent processing quality and the co-operative's ongoing investment in farmer training.

Flavour Notes

• 🍇 Blackcurrants

• 🫐 Blackberries

• 🍇 Raisins