Flavour profile: The coffee has an aroma of melted butter. A vibrant cup profile with flavour notes of strawberries and lime with a cooling aftertaste of black currant. The body is light, reminscent of lemonade.
Colour: Hot pink
Category: Adventurous
Cooperative: New Ngariama Cooperative Society
Washing station: Kamwangi Factory
Varietal: SL28, SL34 and Ruiru 11
Processing: Fully Washed. Cherries are hand-sorted to pick out unripe and overripe ones by the farmers before they go into production. A pulping machine removes the skin and pulp. The coffees are graded by density into 3 grades by the pulper. The coffee is fermented for 24-36 hour under closed shade. After fermentation the coffees are washed and again graded by density in washing channels then they soak overnight in clean water.
Harvest: November 2023 - January 2024
Location: Gichugu division of the Kirinyaga district
Elevation: 1600-1800 meters above sea level
Drying: On raised beds for 12-20 days. Covered with plastic when the sun is hottest.
Price transparency: The FOB price paid for this coffee was 6,06$/lb.
Kamwangi AA Washed is produced by the New Ngariama Cooperative in Kirinyaga, Kenya, and is the largest bean size of the yearly harvest (Kamwangi PB being the smallest). In Kenya, coffee processing stations, are called factories. The Kamwangi factory is one of two factories under the cooperative named New Ngariama Cooperative Society located in the fertile, volcanic hills surrounding Mount Kenya, with a third factory soon to become operational. While this area is less known than its neighbour, Nyeri, their coffee has wowed us from the beginning and this harvest marks our ninth year working together.
The New Ngariama Cooperative Society is mainly made up of small farms, each with around 100 trees in the Gichugu division of the Kirinyaga district. Here, farmers are organized in cooperative societies that act as umbrella organisations for Kamwangi and other coffee factories. Smallholders deliver their freshly picked coffee cherries for processing every day for a period of about two months during the fall season, pften delivering 25-50 kilo by foot or bike. Then each producer will sort their cherries manually to sort out defects and lower grade beans since payment is determined by quality. The meticulous attention given in this process is one of the reasons Kamwangi's coffees have such an outstanding quality and delicious flavour profile that is so highly so after.
Whenever we visit Kamwangi factory, manager Edwin Gichori is quick to speak of the work being done in order to help raise quality levels further and of where changes can be made in the long-term. Kamwangi offers small advance payments to the farmers at delivery and is often able to give back 80% of the sales price back to farmers, after the cost of milling and marketing is deducted. Kamwangi has been Rainforest Alliance certified since 1997.
For more about Kamwangi AA and the New Ngiamara Cooperative Society click here.
