Kaiguri (Kenya)

Limeade, Black Tea, Juicy & Cherry Blossom

Origin Kenya
Region Nyeri County
Producer Smallholder Farmers
Variety SL 28, SL 34 & Ruiri 11
Elevation 1,600-1,800 masl
Processing Washed

250g

Kaiguri is part of a cooperative society consisting of 7 factories (wet mills) and almost 5,000 individual smallholder farmers, in the heart of Kenya’s Nyeri County. This lot is deliciously delicate and subtly complex. We taste zesty notes of lime and lemon verbena, layered with the sweet and floral aroma of cherry blossom, the sweetness of ripe melon and complexity of black tea.

Mt. Kenya, at the helm of Kenya’s Central Province, is the second tallest peak on the continent of Africa and a commanding natural presence. The mountain itself is a single point inside a vast and surreal thicket of ascending national forest and active game protection communities. The central counties of Kenya extend from the center of the national park, like five irregular pie slices, with their points meeting at the peak of the mountain. It is along the lower edge of the forests where, in wet, high elevation communities with mineral-rich soil (Mt. Kenya is a stratovolcano) many believe the best coffees in Kenya, often the world, are crafted. Nyeri is perhaps the most well-known of these central counties. 

Kaiguri comes from a large number of smallholder farmers that are members of the Mutheka Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS), where farmers average around 200 coffee trees apiece. Mutheka FCS is one of the member societies of the Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters (KCCE). KCCE was formed in 2009 with the express goal of managing marketing and exporting operations cooperatively. The economics of smallholder systems are consistently difficult everywhere in the world, and in Kenya in particular the number of individual margins sliced off an export price before payment reaches the actual farms is many. By managing more of the value chain itself, KCCE can capture a greater margin on behalf of the farmers.