Ngerwe - Christmas Edition | Kenya

Kenya — Ngerwe Factory (Kibugu Farmers' Cooperative Society) SL28, Batian & Ruiru 11 (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍇 Blackcurrants • 🫐 Blackberries • 🌹 Rose Hips

DETAILS

• Producers: Several smallholder farmers (about 560 members of Ngerwe Factory)
• Station: Ngerwe Factory (Kibugu Farmers' Cooperative Society)
• Region: Embu County, Kenya
• Varietal: Mainly SL28, Ruiru 11, and Batian, with some SL34
• Process: Washed (about 24-hour tank fermentation)
• Harvest: December 2025
• Roast Profile: Light
• Roaster: Tim Wendelboe (Oslo), Christmas Edition

INTRO
An intense and fruity coffee from Embu in Kenya, and the roaster's first encounter with coffee from the Ngerwe wet mill. It was among Tim's absolute favourite lots on his February 2026 buying trip. In the cup: blackcurrants, blackberries, and rose hips.

THE PRODUCER
Ngerwe Factory is a processing station on the slopes of Mount Kenya in Embu County, serving around 560 members and working alongside other factories under the Kibugu Farmers' Cooperative Society. The members are smallholders, most with a few hundred coffee trees on farms of 0.5 to 1 hectare. The average farmer is about 40, with growing numbers of young people entering coffee farming, contrary to the national trend where the average age is above 60. The region's trees are roughly 80% SL28 (with some SL34), 12% Ruiru 11, and 8% Batian. The factory has permanent and seasonal staff and a cooperative agronomist, runs farmer training on pruning, weeding, fertiliser, mulching, and pest and disease management, and keeps a demonstration plot.

Tim says tasting this coffee took him back to his first Kenya buying trip in 2008, when high-quality lots all tasted intensely of blackcurrant. He notes that quality has changed since, as SL cultivars were replaced with more resilient hybrids like Batian and Ruiru 11, with hotter weather, more disease, and shorter fermentations. SL28 and SL34 contribute the intense blackcurrant-like flavours Kenyan coffees are famous for.

THE PROCESS
The Washed process for this lot involves:

🍒 Hand sorting — cherries delivered by smallholders and hand-sorted at the wet mill, good cherry separated from inferior
⚙️ De-pulping — mechanically de-pulped
🛢️ Fermentation — in large tanks for approximately 24 hours
🚿 Washing — washed with clean water
☀️ Raised-bed drying — on traditional African beds to about 10–12% moisture, then to the dry mill for grading and sorting

The coffee has a winey acidity that Tim believes comes from a prolonged fermentation, the traditional way in Kenya.

THE CUP
Intense and ripe: blackcurrants, rose hips, and blackberries with a refreshing, winey acidity, a nice coffee to drink alone or after a heavy Christmas dinner.

Flavour Notes
🍇 Blackcurrants 🫐 Blackberries 🌹 Rose Hips