About This Coffee
Githembe Factory was built in 1969 and is run by Thiririka Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS). Over 550 members deliver cherry to the station.
Thiririka FCS owns and operates 3 factories: Githembe, Kiganjo and Ndundu. In recent years, like many factories in the region, Githembe has sadly had issues with theft. For this reason, coffee is sometimes only pulped and washed at Githembe and is then moved to the more secure Kiganjo factory for drying.
All three of the factories run by Thiririka have a reputation for quality coffee among specialty buyers. Careful attention to detail and sharing knowledge between factories is one of the secrets. For instance, the current manager of Githembe (who has been at his post since 2018) was the previous manager at the Ndundu factory for 15 years!
Cultivation
Thiririka FCS members are required to follow Good Agricultural Practices. Members receive a great deal of guidance when carrying out work, and technical advice is offered through farmer training programs and regular field visits by trained economists.
Best practices are checked and supervised by the field committee. Intercropping with maize and beans is discouraged, as it can rob nutrients from the coffee trees. Many farmers, however, do intercrop with macadamia.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Smallholders selectively handpick only ripe cherry and deliver it to Githembe Factory. At intake, the Cherry Clerk oversees meticulous visual sorting, accepting only dense, ripe cherry.
After intake, cherry is pulped and fermented for approximately 18 to 24 hours. Following fermentation, coffee is washed clean water and soaked for 12 hours. Then, 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 20 days for parchment to dry.
About Kiambu
Kiambu is right outside Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi but is nonetheless known for agriculture – specifically coffee and tea. The county is also home of the Kenyan Coffee Research Foundation.
Kiambu County is also well known for its dairy production, and is the largest dairy producing county in Kenya. Many of the growers here adhere to organic fertilizing practices, using only cow manure instead of agrochemicals on their coffee trees.
Farmers in Kiambu face low production due to pests and disease while simultaneously having to pay high prices for inputs. In recent years, many have felt the strain and have sold their land to real-estate developers looking to build on the edge of Nairobi.
AA Grade
Kenyan coffees are classified by size. AA beans are the largest size. AA grade coffees are those that are 17/18 screen size, meaning that they are larger than 7.2 millimeters.
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.