Kenya
Africa
Kenyan coffee enjoys a celebrated reputation for its bold and distinctive flavor. We cup hundreds of samples each year and select only the most intense and sophisticated top auction lots. We have a special fondness for brilliant Kenya coffees with their wine-like acidity and ripe fruit flavors.
Smallholder producers deliver freshly picked cherries to local wet mills where the coffee cherries are again sorted for ripeness. Only the ripe red cherries go into the washing system as first quality.
Fruit is stripped by disc depulpers, sorted by density into fermentation tanks, mucilage is removed through wet fermentation and then rinsed in a washing channel. The coffees often go into a second soaking tank where they sit for an additional 24-40 hours. Millers in Kenya feel this second soak helps give Kenyan coffees the brilliant acidity and clean profiles buyers seek.
High quality standards and demanding cup specifications go hand in hand with equitable prices, so we work with groups to support their quality and process improvement initiatives. We have seen our price premiums help pay for modern water-conserving milling equipment, improvements to quality assurance labs, and greater access to seedlings for farm replanting.
We work with a select group of reputable mills and exporters who help us facilitate samples and auction purchases.
