Gakuyuini Kenya. SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, Batian. Washed. 

Every bean has a story

Gakuyuini smallholder farmers

Gakuyuini is a factory sitting on the slopes of mount Kenya. The area benefits from the fertile volcanic soil, and the altitudes ranging from 1600 - 1700 meters above sea level. The factory is only 1.5 hours from Nairobi, demonstrating just how close the typical coffee growing areas of Kenya are to the city. The factory has almost as many female members as male: 674 female farmers and 879 male farmers.

Thirikwa Cooperative Society

The Thirikwa Cooperative Society is located on the Upper Medium (or UM2) zone of Mt. Kenya. Its membership consists of 1,553 smallholder farmers, of whom 674 are women. Together, they produce about 250 tons of cherry per season in red, volcanic soil. The wet mill Gakuyuini is about 130 kilometers from Nairobi City and represented by five elected management-committee members.

Thirikwa has two collection centers for the cherries. The farmers that do not reach the washing station by foot can bring their cherries to these centers. These conditions allow Thirikwa to have a high coffee output. Farmers hand pick ripe cherry and delivery it to the Gakuyini mill for processing the same day. At the mill, cherry sorting is carried out prior to pulping and ripe cherries are separated from underripes, overripes and foreign matter. The mill uses clean river water for its processing and recirculates the water before disposing of it in seepage pits. The coffee then dries in the sun on raised beds before they deliver it to the dry mill for secondary processing.

Kenyan coffees

In Kenya small scale holder farmers are responsible for about 70% of the Kenyan coffee production. They deliver coffees from their wet mills to washing stations (factories) under Farmers Cooperative Societies management in Central Kenya. 

Kenya mainly produces fully washed coffees. Many consider Kenya to be the world’s number one quality producer. A great Kenyan coffee can compete with any of the expensive and sought-after coffees in the specialty market. The combination of terroir, varieties and post-harvest processing makes Kenyan coffees truly exceptional!