This AB selection from the Gakuyu-ini washing station has such poise, intensity and clarity that we jumped at the opportunity to reserve a few bags to roast and share with our customers.
The Co-operative
Around 1,200 active members of the Thirikwa Farmers’ Co-operative Society are growing, harvesting and delivering their coffee cherries to the Gakuyu-ini factory. This is the only washing station overseen by the FCS, and they have garnered a reputation for paying high prices for quality cherry delivered to be processed.
As well as receiving cherry on-site the group can host farmers at a secondary collection point where cherries are bought and collated to be delivered and processed on the same day, increasing their catchment to cater for more farmers in the surrounding area. Alongside coffee, typical crops tended to by these contributing smallholders include potatoes, bananas, mangoes and avocadoes.
Processing
The coffee cherries are first sorted through by hand for under- or over-ripe cherries, and then floated to sort by density before depulping. After depulping, they are fermented for up to 24 hours.
The washing stage is then done by periodically introducing clean water from the Kiri river into the tanks and stirring the coffee, before sluicing away the dissolving fruit mucilage layers. Once squeaky clean the coffee is moved to a soaking tank to sit in fresh water for another 24 hours before it goes out to dry on raised beds. This can take between 12 and 20 days, depending on the weather conditions.
The water used in processing is treated in two large soak pits before it makes its way back into the local water table, to break down the sugars, acids and particulates that accumulate during coffee processing.
