Coffees of Kenya

* Please click here to view images from the coffee farms we work with.

Kenya began serious coffee cultivation in the early 20th century. In the short period since, its coffee has become one of the most sought after in the trade, respected for its exceptional quality. Arabica coffees are grown in several areas of Kenya, from the slopes of Mt. Elgon to the far west bordering Uganda, where the Blue Mountain variety (brought back from Jamaica) is grown. The greatest coffees of Kenya, however, have always come from a small crescent zone just north and northeast of Nairobi, along the gentle slopes of the Aberdare Mountains to the west and along the south-facing slopes of Mt. Kenya to the north. They are grown on tiny farms averaging half an acre in size, dotting the landscape at altitudes ranging from 5,500 to 6,500 feet.

No other groups of small farmers anywhere in the world have come close to producing consistently extraordinary qualities the Kenyans do, year after year. This is due not only to the generous combination of equatorial sunlight, red-orange volcanic loamy soils, unique moderate climate and special varieties of Arabica originating in Kenya and still unique to East Africa (the SL28 being the best), but also to the organization of the farmers into small, craft-oriented, cooperative processing centers. These cooperatives are spread out so that one is always within walking distance of any farmer. Each day's harvest is separately processed into small boutique lots of finished green coffee that are then sold individually at auction in Nairobi. Auctions are the answer to a quality seeker's prayers; unblended lots of extraordinary quality can be found and purchased by relatively small but high-quality buyers willing to pay the price.

All quality coffees are washed, and then carefully sorted. The highest grade is AA, which consists of large, high-density beans, followed by AB, slightly smaller beans. The grade AA is no guarantee of quality; an AA coffee can vary from mediocre to spectacular. AB can also be of very high quality, but, in my experience, never attains the heights an AA can.

Grand Cru Kenya: Mamuto, Kirinyaga

Next Roast on August 30th!

When I first encountered Mamuto, I believe it was the best lot auctioned in Kenya that year. (All Kenyan coffee lots were auctioned through 2006; in 2008 the system was "liberalized," permitting direct sales as well as auction coffee) In our first year of roasting this coffee, Mamuto received Coffee Review's first-ever score over 95. Mamuto has scored 96, 97 and 96 Points respectively for crops from 2006, 2007 and 2008. We now have Mamuto's best lot from the most recent harvest. We purchased this lot directly and without hesitation; it was, again, one of the most outstanding lots we tried this past buying season and we have been privileged to always cup the cream of the crop!

Taking inspiration from their family, Mr. Mathagu explained to me, he and his wife named the farm by combining the first two letters from three words: his name, Mathagu, as the father; Muthoni, his wife's maiden name, as mother; and toto, meaning child or children in Swahili: thus Mamuto. Mr. and Mrs. Mathagu have six children - three boys, three girls

Farmer: Walter Paul and Muthoni Mathagu
Region: Kirinyaga
Altitude: 5,000 ft.
Rainfall: Low to moderate+
Soil: Volcanic loam
Arabica variety: Bourbon Sl 28 and SL 34
Size of Farm: 21 acres total; 13 acres of coffee
Roast: Full Flavor

Please click here to view more images of this coffee farm.

Please Note:
1) Orders need to be placed for our Limited Edition Coffees by 8:00 am Eastern Time
2) Orders received will not be shipped until the ROAST DATE indicated per the schedule; and
3) Orders received that include REGULAR COFFEE items in addition to scheduled Limited Edition coffees will be shipped on the date that the limited coffee is roasted to minimize your shipping cost, UNLESS you leave a message in the Notes Box indicating you want us to ship your regular coffee separately.

Kiamabara, Nyeri, Kenya

Elegant, silky blackberry sliding towards black currant notes overlaid with a fine veneer of blueberry. Bright acidity without edginess

Two of the most outstanding coffees from last year’s Kenya harvest (Dec 2008 – January 2009) came from the Kiamabara and Kagumoini wet mills (where the coffee seeds, which we call beans, are separated from their fruit and dried). Both produced several outstanding lots and we were able to have our pick from them. The two “factories,” as wet mills are called in Kenya, are close to each other, serve five villages and belong to the Mugaga Cooperative Society, which also runs the Kieni, Gathugu and Gatina factories. Kiamabara has 910 members; each farmer owns an average of just 200 trees. A tree in a smallholder plot produces one to two pounds of green coffee in a year, at best. The cooperative also produces tea, maize, bananas and macadamia. The Kiamabara green coffee lot held up beautifully through the storage and shipping phase, arriving to us this summer with no trace of woodiness from age. Even great coffee specially packaged to hold freshness in is often slightly affected by the journey from East Africa. The Kiamabara was unusually stable, even for Kenya coffee. We immediately froze it all, preserving that unclouded fresh flavor note.

Region: Nyeri district
Altitude: 5,000 – 6,000 ft.
Rainfall: Low to moderate – 59 inches yearly average
Soil: Volcanic loam
Arabica cultivar: Bourbon SL 28 and SL 34
Roast: Full Flavor Roast
Harvest: Dec. 2008

QTY

Kiamariga, Nyeri, Kenya

Next Roast September 27th!

Kiamariga is a small, spectacular lot which we will roast from time to time. The cup is saturated with immaculately transparent perfectly ripe succulent blackberry subtly layered with traces of plum and dark red cherries. It is without trace of astringency, having great layered depth and a velvet-soft sweetly disappearing finish - a Kenya of unforced power, full body and great elegance. It is, as with all our Terroir coffees, kept in perfect condition with our special storage system.

The Kiamariga Cooperative mill is about 100 miles north of Nairobi in the great coffee-growing Nyeri district. It serves over one thousand small growers who live nearby at around five thousand feet in altitude on the edge of the Mt. Kenya forest. The average farm size is a half acre with an average of 250 trees each. I visited Solomon Dei, a member of Kiamariga, at his farm, seen on right. The Kiamariga mill is seen below, early in the morning. The green coffee, drying on racks, is still covered in yellow plastic to protect from morning dew and possible rainfall overnight. Fermentation tanks with roofs protecting from the sun are on the left, and curing of recently dried coffee is in the large structure to the right, open on the sides for proper ventilation. Full flavor roasted.

Region: Nyeri
Altitude: 5,000+ ft.
Rainfall: moderate
Soil: Volcanic loam
Arabica variety: Bourbon SL 28 and SL 34
Average size of farms: 0.5 acres

Please Note:
1) Orders need to be placed for our Limited Edition Coffees by 8:00 am Eastern Time
2) Orders received will not be shipped until the ROAST DATE indicated per the schedule; and
3) Orders received that include REGULAR COFFEE items in addition to scheduled Limited Edition coffees will be shipped on the date that the limited coffee is roasted to minimize your shipping cost, UNLESS you leave a message in the Notes Box indicating you want us to ship your regular coffee separately.

Kagumoini, Nyeri, Kenya

We have officially sold out of Kagumoini for this season! Stay tuned for our next espresso coming soon!

Kagumo-ini (ini means “in the vicinity) is what Kenyans call a cooperative society “factory,” referred to in the Americas as a beneficio, or wet coffee mill, where coffee “beans” are removed from the fruit, cherries, and then dried precisely to achieve stability for storage and transportation. Kagumo-ini is in Kenya’s most celebrated coffee district, Nyeri, located where the Aderdare mountain range meets Mt. Kenya. All the great Kenya coffee farms and cooperatives are on the peripheral eastern and southern slopes of the Aberdare mountain range, to the west, and Mt. Kenya, to the north, respectively, bordering the 5,000 foot high Central Valley, where Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is situated, approximately 60 miles due south.

Kagumo-ini puts out about 225,000 lbs per year average production of green coffee, the equivalent of a little more than 190,000 lbs of roasted coffee. It has 1,030 members, so this means 180 roasted lbs per member! Farm plots are very small in Kenya cooperative societies and farmers have to make up for small quantities, as best they can, with great quality, to achieve higher premiums. Kenya consistently gets the highest prices on the commercial world coffee market. Nevertheless life is a struggle. Kagumo-ini farmers also grow tea, maize and bananas.

Our lot was harvested and wet-milled in December 2008. It was “rested” for two months (like wine in barrels), then dry-milled, that is sorted for size of beans, density, shape and defect, and specially vacuumed packaged for shipment to the US. Vacuum sealing raw coffee was pioneered in Kenya by the Dorman Coffee Company at Terroir Coffee’s request. Since arrival in the US, about two months later, the coffee has been kept frozen, locking in the unique Kenyan complex fruit flavors. Terroir Coffee is the only company anywhere to freeze raw coffee. This is part of our pioneering mission to raise coffee quality to new levels and to faithfully reflect the original actual quality great farmers produce, which is so quickly lost as the bean ages.

Our Kagumo-ini is roasted slightly darker than our other Kenyas – for espresso fans and for those who want roastier notes in their brew. The cup is very sweet, laden with thick blackberry and black currant notes layered with dark chocolate and caramel.

Region: Nyeri
Altitude: 5,500 ft.
Rainfall: Low to moderate
Soil: Volcanic loam
Arabica cultivar: Bourbon Sl 28 and SL 34
Roast: North Italian Espresso

Ndiara Estate, Kirinyaga, Kenya

Next Roast coming soon!

Ndiara is another powerful coffee from Kirinyaga, easily an equal, in my opinion, to Mamuto and very different. If ever there was a coffee that should be called jammy, this is it (La Esperanza is the Colombian version of this…)! It presents massive body with a berry fruit-basket of flavors. If you have not tried it you should.

Ndiara is an eight acre farm in the Kirinyaga district on the southern slope of Mt. Kenya at 5,500 feet. It is named after a pre-historic site nearby. Mr. Daniel Waruri Muriuki started it in 1979 when he acquired the land and planted 6,000 Bourbon SL-28 and SL-34 coffee trees; he later added an additional 500 trees.

This is a must-try coffee for any Kenya coffee lover!

Please Note:
1) Orders need to be placed for our Limited Edition Coffees by 8:00 am Eastern Time
2) Orders received will not be shipped until the ROAST DATE indicated per the schedule; and
3) Orders received that include REGULAR COFFEE items in addition to scheduled Limited Edition coffees will be shipped on the date that the limited coffee is roasted to minimize your shipping cost, UNLESS you leave a message in the Notes Box indicating you want us to ship your regular coffee separately.