Kenyan green coffee

Gachewa Investment (K) LTD. welcomes you to our Kenyan coffee journey.

“To provide the best coffee with the best service at the lowest cost of ownership”

Over the years, Kenya coffee has become a household name in the many coffee consuming countries where quality is the first consideration. If one is drinking coffee, then it does not matter where the coffee is coming from, but if one is drinking the finest quality coffee, then the origin becomes a matter of consequence.
While there are as many as 100 species of coffee, coffea Arabica and coffea Canephora, commonly known as robusta, account for 99.5% of the world coffee consumption.
Kenya produces Arabica; the more flavorful of the two that belongs to a group called “Columbian mild’s”-a name given to the very best coffee by the International Coffee Organization (ICO). Although over the years more countries have tried to take advantage of the over increasing demand for gourmet coffee, Kenya AA and AB coffees have remained the most expensive commercially traded coffees in the world.

Most of Kenyan coffee is grown in the highlands, around Mt. Kenya at altitudes of 5,000- 6,000ft above sea level. The well distributed rainfall, moderate temperatures and deep, rich volcanic soils make the highland ideal for the growing of quality coffee. The eight primary coffee regions are Nyeri, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Embu and Meru surrounding Mount Kenya, Kiambu and Machakos to the south, and Nakuru to the west. Kenya has two main coffee picking seasons. Main crop picking takes place, October through December and the fly crop, June through August. Another thing to note is that the areas on the south and southwestern side of Mt. Kenya – Nyeri, Murang’a, Kirinyaga and Kiambu – are strongest in the main crop and those to the east – Meru and Embu especially, and also Machakos – harvest the fly crop.

Picking of the red ripe cherries is done by hand with each tree picked at ten day intervals to provide the best crop for wet process. This process is mainly used on Arabica coffee and is extensively used in Kenya. It produces superior quality coffee. In wet process, the harvested ripe beans from the farms are separated from the unripe beans, decupled to remove the outer cover. They are then fermented in a tank to remove the Arabica coffee beans from the husk. After an adequate time when the soaking process has been completed the beans are removed and dried out in the sunshine on huge patios for about six weeks. During the daytime the coffee beans are raked continuously so that they dry up quicker and evenly. At night they are moved into covered buildings.

Grading of coffee is done by passing the beans over screens with holes of different diameters. Each grade is sold as a separate lot. Kenya separates main grade coffee into the following grades:

COFFEE GRADING AND CLASSIFICATION

Grade	Details and Remarks	Screen No	Diameter

AA	Beans in this grade are of good size, formation and density. Coffees in grade AA fetch high premium prices than any other grade in the market	18	7.20

AB	This is the most common grade that is produced after milling. It accounts to about 40% of any milled consignment of parchment delivered by farmers	16	6.35

PB	PB grade consists of beans shaped like pea berries which are compact and rare. This grade consists of beans which have only one bean growing in a pod instead of the usual two beans	12	4.76

TT	Consists of lighter beans isolated from main grades AA and AB in an air pressure separator

C	These are thin small beans which do not qualify to be in grades AA and AB. Grade C is the second largest quantity produced from a milling lot	10	3.96

T	Very light beans and chippy beans broken during handling. Beans in this grade yield uneven roast and therefore get lower quality classification compared with other grades	7	2.90

MH	Dry processed, larger and heavy beans

ML	Dry processed small chippy and lighter beans

After grading, Kenya coffee is then classified. The classification is a quality judgment based on the appearance of the raw bean.

CLASS	REMARKS
1-2	Medium bold/ grayish – blue/ free from dejects/fine raw appearance good fine cup and flavor
3-4	Medium size/grayish green/few defects allowed roast and liquor FAQ
5	Small-medium size/brownish to grey-green/not over fermented/fair cup quality
6	Small-medium size/few major defects ministry-black taint cup allowed
7-8	Mixed in size/many major defects/poor tainted cup taste
9-10	Mixed size/full of major defects foul cup/taste