About This Coffee
This Muhara lot takes its name from the Muhara Farmer Cooperative Society (FCS). Muhara FCS manages two washing stations: Muthiga and Magomano. Both stations are near the town of Gatundu in Kiambu province. Over 890 smallholder farmers in the region belong to Muhara FCS and deliver cherry to the stations.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Farmers selectively handpick ripe cherry and deliver it to washing stations near them. Cherry is sorted at intake where under- and over-ripes, along with any foreign matter, are removed. The role of the cherry clerk, who must ensure that only the ripest cherry is processed, is of paramount importance. Farmers will not be allowed to submit sub-par cherry and must take any rejected cherry home with them to dry on beds or mats. This cherry can then be submitted at the end of the season as mbuni grade for a much lower price. In this way, farmers are incentivized to only pick cherry that is truly at its peak.
Cherry moves straight from intake to the hopper and is pulped using a disk pulper. Pulped cherry is fermented for 24 to 36 hours and then washed in clean water in grading channels. As coffee passes through the channels, the movement removes any remaining mucilage and the channels grade the coffee by weight.
As the beans flow through, wooden bars that are laid across the canal prevent beans of specific densities from passing through. These bars are spaced along the channel. While the first blockade stops the most-dense beans, the next is arranged to stop the second most-dense beans and so on. In total, the channel separates beans into grades according to density. The water used at both factories comes from the nearby Thiririka river.
During pre-drying, station employees sort through wet parchment and remove any damaged beans that remain. Then, parchment is moved to raised beds to finish drying. Here, it is turned regularly to ensure even drying and covered at the hottest part of the day and during evenings to prevent cracking and/or condensation. Drying time is usually around two weeks, depending on the weather at the time.
Once dry, parchment is delivered to Kahawa Bora Millers, one of our Sister Companies in Kenya. The mill has the capacity to mill smaller lots separately to help preserve quality and traceability.
AB Grade
Kenyan coffees are classified by size. AB beans are those that are between screen size 15 and 18 meaning that beans are between 6 and 7 millimeters in size.
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.