About This Coffee
This AA lot comes from a network of smallholder farmers who are part of the Ruchu Gacharage Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS). These farmers deliver their cherries to the Ruona Coffee Factory – a wet mill situated near Kandara in Murang’a County. The co-operative has a long-standing presence in the region, established in 1961, just before Kenya’s independence in 1963. It currently manages five processing sites: Mukangu, Ruona, Gacharage, Kamichee and Ruchu, with a total membership of roughly 3,700 small-scale coffee producers. Around 600 of these deliver to Ruona.
The Ruona Factory, though modest in size, is well-positioned to serve the local farming community. It lies close to Kandara and has easy access to local riverways, which supply water used in the coffee washing process.
Murang'a lies around 120 km northwest of Nairobi and benefits from the cool weather and fertile soils of Kenya’s central highlands. Nestled between the eastern base of the Aberdare Range and the southwestern slopes of Mt. Kenya, the region offers ideal conditions for coffee cultivation. Fertile volcanic soil, seasonal rainfall and high altitudes allow cherries to mature slowly, developing rich flavors and potentially large bean sizes.
Cultivation
Producer members of Ruona Factory cultivate primarily SL28, SL34 and Ruiru 11, along with some Batian. The FCS encourages a sustainable approach to cultivation, with minimal environmental impact where possible.
Coffee in Murang’a is cultivated on fertile, nutrient-rich volcanic soils that support healthy plant growth and contribute to cup quality. The main harvest typically takes place from October to December, with a smaller, early harvest possible between April and July.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Coffee cherries are carefully handpicked at peak ripeness by smallholder farmers and delivered to the factory for processing. After being handsorted to remove underripe and/or damaged fruit, cherry iw then pulped using a disk pulper to remove the outer skin. Pulped coffee is then fermented in concrete tanks for 12 to 24 hours, depending on temperature and climate conditions, to break down the mucilage. After fermentation, parchment is washed through grading channels using fresh water from the Ruchu River before being transferred to soaking tanks, where it will be soaked for up to 24 hours. Soaking after washing and grading is a strategy that helps to free up valuable drying bed space during the peak of the harvest season; however, this step has also been shown to contribute to the quality and longevity of green coffee.
After soaking, the parchment is transferred to raised beds for drying. The drying process lasts 7 to 21 days, with workers frequently turning the parchment and covering it during the hottest part of the day to ensure even drying and prevent defects.
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.
About SL28 & SL34
SL28 and SL34 were two of the cultivars released by Scott Agricultural Laboratories (SAL) during the height of SAL’s research in Kenya in the 1930s and 1940s. They soon became the cultivars of choice for most growers thanks to their deep root structure that allows them to maximize scarce water resources and flourish even without irrigation. SL varieties also had higher yields than the French Bourbon rootstock that they replaced and were known to be somewhat more disease resistant.
About Batian
Developed by Kenya's Coffee Research Institute in 2010, Batian is named after the highest peak on Mt. Kenya and is resistant to both coffee berry disease (CBD) and coffee leaf rust (CLR). The variety has the added benefit of early maturity – cropping after only two years. Some challenges (such as vegetative structure) have prevented it from becoming widespread so far, but its popularity is certainly growing.
About Ruiru 11
Ruiru 11, a hybrid of Catimor and SL cultivars, is both Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) and Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) resistant. Plus, it can be planted at a much higher density than the SL varieties, making optimal use of small plots of land.
Ruiru 11 has slowly ‘taken root’ across most of Kenya’s coffee growing landscape. The only issues were that with a shallower root structure, many farmers found the plant less hardy in drought conditions, and the trees required a more intense feeding program. Over time, farmers have found that by grafting Ruiru-11 to SL varieties they could take advantage of SL trees’ expansive root system and still reap the increased yields and higher immunity to disease of Ruiru-11.
Due to the grafted Ruiru-11’s growing popularity, most farms in Kenya today, both big and small, have a mixture of Ruiru-11 and SL varieties. As SL trees age, many farmers are opting to turn more towards Ruiru-11 (or the grafting solution) thanks to its ease of use and higher resistance to diseases.
Source: https://varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org/varieties/ruiru-11 & https://sucafina.com/na/news/think-you-know-kenya-coffee-varieties-think-again
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.