Kenya Kiandu AB

This lot was grown by a group of smallholder farmers who are all members of the Mutheka Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS) and deliver their coffee to Kiandu Coffee Factory. The facility lies in Kenya's renowned Nyeri County, near the town of Tetu.

Mutheka FCS is a very new organisation that was created in 2004 after the Giant Tetu Coffee Growers Co-Operative Society split. The FCS is located in Nyeri County, east of the Aberdare Ranges and west of Mt. Kenya, and manages seven factories with a total membership of approximately 6,000 small-scale coffee growers. Kiandu Factory has almost 1,900 registered members, making it one of Mutheka's largest. Only a small percentage of Kenyan coffee factories actively deliver coffee in any given year.

Handpicked coffee cherries are sent to the mill the same day, in which they are carefully sorted. Employees from the factory supervise the procedure, and any cherries that are under ripe or damaged will not be accepted. Any unwanted coffee will get sent home, and the grower will have to find a location to dry it, with the coffee being provided only at the end of the season as low-quality 'Mbuni' natural-process coffee with a low price. Farmer members are rewarded for picking and delivering only the ripest cherries.

Up there with the most renowned coffee producing regions, Kenya is the world’s 16th largest grower and the fifth largest in Africa.

Kenya’s coffee history, like so many producing countries around the world, is inescapably linked to colonialism. Although it shares a border with Ethiopia, widely believed to be the birthplace of coffee, the plant was only brought to Kenya by missionaries in the late 19th century. Under British colonial rule, coffee was concentrated on British-owned private estates and grown primarily for export. The Coffee Act of 1933 established a Kenyan Coffee Board, and in 1934 an auction system was created to centralise the sale of coffee, a system that is still in use today.

The Mau Mau rebellion of 1952-60, which led to the country’s eventual independence, provided the impetus to transfer control over coffee production from Britain to the Kenyan people. Since then a series of reforms has allowed Kenyan producers more control over their production, and the country’s research establishment has encouraged constant quality improvements.

The Kenyan grading system uses size as the primary indicator, with AA including the largest and AB the second largest beans. Of course there are many other factors involved in a coffee’s quality aside from bean size, and many experts now regard AB as the superior grade for Kenyan coffee.

Did you know?

• Coffee grown in the foothills of the extinct Mount Kenya is highly sought after, due to lush red volcanic soil high in nutrients and organic matter that provide the perfect growing medium.
• Smallholders often grow coffee alongside other cash crops such as potatoes, bananas, mangoes, and avocados in addition to livestock.
• Like so many other coffee regions around the world, Kenya is at serious risk from climate change. Coffee is a delicate plant and extremely susceptible to adverse climate events. Rising temperatures, lack of rain, and generally erratic weather patterns are causing devastation for many producers worldwide. The berry borer beetle and diseases such as coffee leaf rust have impacted Kenyan farms at ever higher altitudes.

Sources: Mercanta, The World Atlas of Coffee, Deutsche Welle, Wikipedia, World Coffee Research

Our speciality coffees are 100% traceable and ethically sourced. We work direct with farmers, or through trusted partners, to bring you the best coffee from around the world.

Sourced in partnership with: Falcon Coffees
Producer relationship length: Since 2019