Kenya Thirikwa Gakuyuini AA

We try not to keep coffee on the shelves for long, so if we don't have a particular coffee in stock, we have to replenish the order after the roasting day. We roast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, pack the coffee and send it out on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Thirikwa is one of the few Kenyan cooperatives operating only one washing station. It bears the name Gakuy-ini. The cooperative has a membership of 3,700 farmers. In order to streamline the process of delivering coffee cherries to the station, the cooperative operates two additional fruit collection points. This ensures that all processing of all the coffee cherries starts on the same day they are delivered. And this guarantees freshness and no defects due to uncontrolled fermentation.

More specifically? Farmers deliver the coffee cherries each day by 11 a.m. They are washed and sorted by hand. The pulper (pardon the Anglicism, we can't find a Polish name) is started at 3 a.m. After the bulk of the fruit has been mechanically stripped off, the beans go to the fermentation tanks for the night. The next day, the first rinsing takes place and the grains are sorted according to size and quality. The two highest screeners (AB is just the second highest) are then subjected to a second fermentation for 16 hours. After another rinse/wash, the grains are dried on so-called 'African tables' for 8 to 14 days.

The factory purifies the water used to process the cherries during the day and reuses it. The water comes from the Kiri River, which flows through the middle of the washing station area. In addition, the cooperative distributes the cherry pulp to its members. This is then mixed with cow manure and used as fertiliser.

Due to its high quality standards and good organisation of the washing station, the cooperative achieves high prices for its beans and is thus able to pay its members higher prices for the coffee cherries supplied.