Kenya Peaberry Baragwi

Background Details:

Our Kenya Peaberry comes to us from select cooperatives within the greater Baragwi group of Kirinyaga county high up in the foothills of Mt. Kenya.

Mt. Kenya, at the helm of Kenya’s Central Province, is the second tallest peak on the continent of Africa and a commanding natural presence. The central counties of Kenya extend from the center of the national park, like six irregular pie slices, with their points meeting at the peak of the mountain. It is along the lower edge of these forests where, in wet, high elevation communities with mineral-rich soil, many believe the best coffees in Kenya, often the world, are crafted.

Kirinyaga county is one of the smallest and yet best known of these central counties. Year after year Kirinyaga coffees are beloved for their ripe fruit-forward profiles, many reminiscent of berry jam, mandarin, and lemongrass. Kenya’s coffee is dominated by a cooperative system of production, whose members vote on representation, marketing and milling contracts for their coffee, as well as profit allocation. Baragwi Farmers Cooperative Society oversees the operations of all 12 member cooperatives with a combined total of 16,000 farmer members. The group, like many cooperative societies country-wide, has a farmer-elected board with members from each sublocation.

Kenya is known for some of the most meticulous at-scale processing that can be found anywhere in the world. Bright white parchment nearly perfectly sorted by density and bulk conditioned at high elevations is the norm, and a matter of pride. Ample water supply in the central growing regions has historically allowed factories to wash, and wash, and soak, and wash their coffees again entirely with fresh, cold river water. The established milling and sorting by grade, or bean size, is a longstanding tradition and positions Kenya coffees well for roasters, by tightly controlling the physical preparation and creating a diversity of profiles from a single processing batch.

Roast and Tasting Notes:

We roast our Kenya Peaberry Baragwi to a full-medium roast. This gives a brewing profile a nice silky texture finish with well-rounded notes of orange juice, peach, raspberry and caramel.

Origin Information:

Grower - 16000 producers organized around the Baragwi Farmers Cooperative Society
Variety - SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, and Batian
Region - Kirinyaga County, Kenya
Harvest - November thru December
Altitude - 5249 - 5905 feet (1600 - 1800 masl)
Soil - Volcanic loam
Process - Fully washed and dried on raised beds