Roasted for Filter | Gooseberry, guava, lemonade
A7 information cards which you can use on retail shelves, at POS, on grinders and to display alongside brewed coffee. Please add to your cart the amount you wish to receive with your order.
A lively cup with sherberty acidity. Tart gooseberry and floral guava notes lead to a refreshing lemonade finish.
Hailing from Kenya’s Kiambu County, we’re thrilled to reintroduce a coffee from Githembe washing station into the range. A zingy gooseberry acidity leans tropical, with some guava and fresh pineapple flavours in the mix.
The Producers
Around 400 smallhold farmers are the ones growing the coffee that ultimately makes up the lots produced at the Githembe factory. Typically coffee is intercropped with macadamia and other food crops planted for sustenance as well as secondary cash crops. Handege is the locale within Kiambu county where the Githembe factory is located, and the growers here are blessed with very fertile, red soils at altitudes of between 1,600 and 1,800 metres, which makes for fantastic coffee growing conditions. The most common cultivars are SL28 and SL34, with recent additions of Batian and Ruiru 11 commonplace. Some farmers are splicing the older plants more recognised for cup quality onto hardier root stocks, for example grafting an SL28 scion onto a stumped Ruiru 11 plant.
The Washing Station
The Githembe washing station, or factory, was built in 1969. Once coffee cherries are delivered there is an initial sorting phase overseen by the reception clerk. They use a traditional 3-disc Agaarde pulping machine, and the depulped mucilage-covered parchment coffee is graded before and after fermentation. They practice a dry fermentation stage of between 18 and 24 hours after which point the mucilage is scrubbed off in tiled washing channels, which aid in grading the coffee by density. The coffee is subsequently soaked to improve cleanliness and homogeneity.
In an attempt to safeguard against theft, the processed parchment coffee is transported to another factory run by the same Farmers’ Co-operative Society as Githembe (Thiririka FCS) for drying, where they are able to consolidate their security resources.
The Farmers’ Co-operative Society
Thiririka FCS (named for a local river) runs the Githembe factory as well as Kiganjo and Ndundu. Kiganjo is the site where coffee processed at Githembe is dried. This is done on raised beds for between 9 and 14 days, with the coffee being covered over during the hottest parts of the day as well as overnight. With 2,400 members in the FCS around 1,500 are active. The members are all using certified seed stocks from Kenya’s CRI (Coffee Research Institute). Part of their operation involves providing their contributing smallhold farmer members with agronomical training and materials. Advice is dispensed such as how and when to clear weeds, prune the coffee trees, apply mulch and use fertilisers.
Origin: Handege, Kiambu County, Kenya
Producer: 400 smallholders & Thiririka FCS
Processing: Hand-picked & sorted, traditionally depulped & dry fermented for 18-24 hours, fully washed, soaked & dried on raised beds.
Cultivars: SL28, SL34 & Batian
Altitude: 1,600 to 1,800 metres
Harvest: December, 2024
Arrival: May, 2025