About This Coffee
Ngacha Coffee Estate is a family-run farm in Kirinyaga County, one of Kenya’s established coffee-growing regions. John Muriuki Ngacha founded it in 1954 with nine bushes, the limit colonial rules set for local farmers. He secretly planted four more. He was arrested and the extra bushes were removed. The family tells this story as a quiet act of defiance and the root of its commitment to preserving the estate’s heritage.
Martin Muriuki inherited the estate from his father and now leads its development, with a focus on fully washed and anaerobic natural processing. He also works with eight smallholder farmers who live nearby, and together they form the Ngacha Collective. The group refines its processing and experiments with Naturals such as this lot. Natural processing is not traditional in Kenya, which built its reputation on Fully washed coffees, but a growing number of producers are extending that reputation to naturals. For this experimental natural, the team soaked the cherry for 36 hours before drying.
Cultivation
Coffee in the region is cultivated on fertile volcanic soils, typically in small plots at elevations of 1,800 meters above sea level. The cool temperatures, ranging from 13 to 25°C, slow the maturation of the cherries, allowing them to develop greater sweetness and complexity. Combined with the area’s moderate bimodal rainfall, these conditions create an ideal environment for producing coffees with clean and well‑defined flavor profiles.
The ‘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.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Cherries are carefully hand-picked before being delivered to the processing facilities at Ngacha Estate. At intake, the cherries are carefully sorted to ensure optimal quality, with only the ripest being selected. Cherries are then soaked for 36 hours before being moved to dry on raised beds. During this process, workers turn the cherries regularly to ensure even drying while removing any damaged or defective cherries. It takes approximately 14 to 20 days to dry cherries completely.
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 Kirinyaga
Kirinyaga County is nestled at the foothills of Mt. Kenya, roughly 112 km from Nairobi. The region is well-known for its exceptional coffee. Sucafina partners with numerous coffee farmers and cooperatives in the region, working with them to improve processing capacity, access to agricultural inputs and agricultural practices.
The locals in this area call Mt. Kenya ‘Kirinyaga’, the namesake of the county, meaning the crest of whiteness due to its famous snow-capped peaks.
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.