Microlot

Microlots from Kenya are traceable to either the factory level or individual farm level (when possible), and are selected basis cup score. Because the majority of coffee farmers in Kenya own between 1/8–1/4 a hectare of land, most deliver coffee in cherry form to a local factory for sorting and processing; at the factory, the deliveries are blended and processed into day lots comprising the day' s deliveries. Our green buyer for Kenya typically takes up residency in Kenya during the harvest due to the sheer number of samples to be cupped and selects the best of these lots to purchase as microlots (fewer than 100 bags).

Thunguri

Thunguri wet mill is part of the Kibirigwi Farmers Cooperative Society. This coop has over 6800 active small-holder farmer members, each of whom only have on average .5 acres of land.

Coffees here are picked ripe by hand and delivered for pulping the same day. After pulping, the beans are fermented for 16-18 hours then washed twice with fresh water from the Kangocho stream before being graded. Parchment is then dried on raised beds until getting to the ideal moisture content.

Thunguri wet mill receives anywhere from 400-700,000 kgs of cherry each year.

From our export partner:

Kibirigwi FCS is a nine wet mill society named Ragati,Nguguini,Mukangu,Kiangai,Kibingoti,Thunguri,Kianjege,Chema and Kiai. All nine wetmills still exist, however the Kai was closed in 2002 due to low production. The cooperative society was registered on 1953 and the main office is located at Ragati wet mill, Kibirigwi sub-Location, Kirinyaga west sub-county, Kirinyaga county. The society is about 5 kilometers from Karatina town and 112 km from Nairobi city.
Current total membership of the cooperative is 6,888 active members out of which 4,861 are female and 2,027 are male. Total number of coffee trees in Kibirigwi fcs is 1,722,000