About This Coffee
Kaguru Factory is run by Kaguru Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS) and lies just off the Embu-Meru highway, around 1 km south of the town of Nkubu. Over 650 members deliver cherry to the station.
With help from Sucafina/Kahawa Bora, Kaguru provides training to farmers in improved pruning, cultivation and harvesting methods. Kahawa Bora’s field staff have also performed soil analysis on member’s plots to inform correct input application, which helps improve yields and quality while reducing cost and environmental impact. This focus on high quality at all stages of cultivation and processing has increased cup scores from 85 to 87-88+ in a short period of time.
Cultivation
Coffee farming in Meru and its surrounds is a primarily smallholder activity. Most farms are under 1 hectare and coffee is cultivated alongside basic food crops.
Farmers delivering to Kaguru cultivate primarily SL28 and SL34 in small coffee gardens that are, on average, smaller than 1 hectares. ‘SL’ varieties are cultivars originally released by Scott Agricultural Laboratories (SAL) in the 1930s and 1940s. They soon became the go-to trees for many growers in Kenya due to their deep root structure, which allows them to maximize scarce water resources and flourish even without irrigation. They are cultivated with a serious eye to sustainability and Good Agricultural Practices, with minimal environmental impact where possible.
Prior to Kahawa Bora’s soil sampling program, farmers had little access to soil analysis methods. Fertilizer, when applied, would be formulated according to a generalized recipe rather than one uniquely suited to the farm’s exact needs. Now, with better access to information through technology and agronomical assistance, farmers can apply the right fertilizer recipe at the right time, improving yields and cherry quality.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Smallholders selectively handpick only ripe cherry and deliver it to Kaguru Factory. At intake, the Cherry Clerk oversees meticulous visual sorting and floating, accepting only dense, ripe cherry.
After intake, cherry is pulped and fermented for approximately 16 to 24 hours. Following fermentation, coffee is washed in clean water and parchment is laid to dry on raised beds. Workers rake parchment frequently to ensure even drying. They cover drying parchment during the hottest time of day, to maintain slow, even drying and at night, to shelter parchment from moisture. It takes approximately 14 to 24 days for parchment to dry.
About Meru
Meru County lies just to the northeast of Mouth Kenya, with a good portion of the county reaching into the foothills of the mountain. Meru has an impressive and storied coffee-growing history. It was reputedly one of the first counties where indigenous Kenyans were able to grow coffee.
The Kenyans growing coffee in Meru in the early 1930s paved the way for the more than 600,000 smallholder farmers who grow coffee in Kenya today. The high altitude and cool climate make Meru a prime location for coffee farming.
Today, farmers across the region (like many in Kenya) face the dual challenges of low productivity combined with land fragmentation (smaller plot sizes). This makes the agronomic and technical support of our team at Sucafina in Kenya (Kenyacof) all the more important.
About Peaberries
PB stands for peaberry. Peaberry is a name given to a very specific shape of coffee bean. In Spanish, peaberries are called “caracol”, which means “snail”. The name aptly describes the shape of the peaberry bean, which appears slightly curved in on itself.
Peaberries are the result of a natural mutation in the coffee cherry. Whereas there are usually two beans nestled together in each fruit, a cherry with a peaberry mutation only forms one bean. Thus, peaberries are a single, rounder bean.
Peaberry mutations occur in approximately 5% of all coffee. The beans are known for being rounder, smaller and denser, which can contribute to a more even roast color when handled correctly. Many people find peaberries to have a sweeter flavor profile, as well.
Since peaberries are a natural mutation that is not visible from the outside of the cherry, peaberries must be sorted out during the screen grading stage of dry milling. The peaberry screens have the smallest holes, which are oblong to allow the rounder beans to fall through.
Coffee in Kenya
Though coffee growing had a relatively late start in Kenya, the industry has gained and maintained a impressive reputation. Since the start of production, Kenyan coffee has been recognized for its high-quality, meticulous preparation and exquisite flavors. Our in-country sister company, Sucafina Kenya, works with farmers across the country to ensure these exceptional coffees gain the accolades they deserve.
Today, more than 600,000 smallholders farming fewer than 5 acres compose 99% of the coffee farming population of Kenya. Their farms cover more than 75% of total coffee growing land and produce nearly 70% of the country’s coffee. These farmers are organized into hundreds of Farmer Cooperative Societies (FCS), all of which operate at least one factory. The remainder of annual production is grown and processed by small, medium and large land estates. Most of the larger estates have their own washing stations.
Most Kenyan coffees are fully washed and dried on raised beds. The country still upholds its reputation for high quality and attention to detail at its many washing stations. The best factories employ stringent sorting practices at cherry intake, and many of them have had the same management staff in place for years.