Kenya Kirinyaga Rungeto Karimikui AA
Flavor Profile: Lots of toasted nuts and herbal notes usher in some tropical fruits with a light vanilla tone. Very easy to drink with extremely mild acidity which is surprising for a high-end Kenya offering.
Roast Level: Medium
Grower: Small-lot farmers around the the Karimikui wash-plant.
Variety: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, and Batian
Region: Kirinyaga County, Kenya
Altitude: 1,600-1,850 Meters (5,200-6,000 ft.)
Process: Fully washed and dried on Raised Beds
Brewing Recommendations: This coffee is great in a Pour Over, Chemex, French Press and everyday drip machine.
Farm Detail
Perched high up in the southern foothills of Mount Kenya on rich red volcanic soil, the growing areas surrounding the Karimikui factory are ideal for producing some of the finest Kenyan coffee. Farmers in these fertile foothills who typically cultivate around 250 coffee trees on half-acre plots have been delivering ripe cherries to the Karimikui factory since it first opened in 1966. In 1997, the factory left a large umbrella farmers’ cooperative society (FCS) and joined the Rungeto Farmers’ Cooperative Society, which manages just two other factories.
Rungeto is the smallest in size of the all FCS locations. They have focused on quality processing and meticulous attention to detail, garnering it a reputation for amazing coffee traceable to some of the cleanest and best organized factories in Kenya. At the Karimikui factory only the ripest cherries are delivered, and additional hand sorting and floating are done to remove less dense and damaged beans before the coffee is depulped, fermented and washed. After the coffee is washed, it’s soaked in fresh water for long periods of time to solidify the hallmark Kenyan profiles. The coffee is dried over a period of two weeks on raised beds, which are carefully constructed to ensure proper air circulation and temperature control for optimal drying. When the coffee is milled for export, the green beans are sorted by screen size and graded according to size and shape. Larger beans (17/18 screen) are labeled AA, 15/16 screen are labeled AB, and the round peaberry are labeled PB.
