Specs
Producers: Rungeto FCS
Station: Karimikui Factory
Region: Kirinyaga, Kenya
Harvest: October 2024 - January 2025
Varieties: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, Batian
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1650 masl
Importer: Apex
Roasted in Toronto Canada on NOV 18
For best results we recommend resting your filter coffee for two to three weeks post-roast before brewing.
Karimikui Producer
Profile The Karimikui factory is located at a high altitude in an area where tea is more commonly grown than coffee. It is a member of the Rungeto FCS, a cooperative that is known for producing some of the highest-performing coffees in Kenya. Hundreds of smallholders deliver ripe cherries to this station every year where the factory team manually sorts them before production. Selected cherries are de-pulped and graded before the coffees undergo a period of dry fermentation in tanks. After fermentation, the coffees are washed in clean channels. As is typical in Kenya, a period of soaking (second wash) occurs shortly after to ensure the development of flavours can reach their full flavour potential.
Kirinyaga
Located to the east of Nyeri, Kirinyaga County is one of the most famous coffee growing regions in Kenya. In Kirinyaga, coffee is grown in volcanic loam along the southern foothills of Mt. Kenya, and washed with clean, fresh water from the Kii river. Like in much, but not all of the rest of Kenya, most coffee here is produced by smallholder farmers and processed at cooperatively run factories.
Field Blend
SL28 and SL34 are the most sought after coffee varieties in Kenya, and in consuming countries have essentially become synonymous with quality Kenyan coffee. In recent years, we have been seeing more Kenyan offerings include the hybrid Ruiru 11 and Batian varieties. These hybrids are more resistant to Coffee Berry Disease and Coffee Leaf Rust than the traditional SL varieties while still retaining high quality potential, making them an important bulwark for producers against the devastating economic effects of crop disease.
Washed
Selected cherries are de-pulped and graded before the coffees
undergo a period of dry fermentation in tanks. After fermentation, the coffees are washed in clean channels. A period of soaking (second wash) occurs shortly after to ensure the development of flavours can reach their full potential. In the final stage, the coffees are placed on raised
beds to dry where they get covered with plastic throughout the hottest part of the day and overnight. Workers periodically rotate the coffees at this stage to ensure the coffees dry evenly.