Most specialty coffee from Kenya is sourced from smallholder producers who drop off their harvested cherry to co-ops where their coffee is combined with that of other producers in the region to create a lot. This lot was sourced from the Kibirigwi Farmers’ Co-operative Society (FCS) located in Kenya’s Kirinyaga County, a region known for its great coffee. The co-op has nine wet mills (in Kenya, they’re called “factories”) in various regions where producers can deliver their hand-picked coffee cherries. This lot is named for the Ngugu-ini wet mill where it was processed. Producers in the area hand-pick their ripe cherries and deliver them to the factory the same day where they’re sorted for quality a second time before pulping. Coffee is then fermented for 16-24 hours, washed, density graded, and delivered to raised beds for drying for anywhere between 7 to 15 days, depending on conditions. This complex coffee has layers upon layers of tropical sweetness, spices and a rich, red-wine body.
