Kenya AA Top - Gatina (2016 Crop)

This coffee is AA Top grade from the Gatina Coffee Factory in the Nyeri District of Kenya's Central Province. Gatina coffee factory is part of the Mugaga Coffee Farmer’s Society and is located near the town of Karatina. It has around 700 farmer members delivering cherry to the factory. Located at 1800 masl, smallholder farmers here have an average of 150 coffee trees each. Varieties grown are SL28, SL34 and Ruiru 11. Other crops grown are maize, bananas and beans. The factory was built in the early 1980s to process cherry from nearby farmers. After picking, ripe cherry is brought to the factory before it undergoes processing to remove the skin and pulp. Wastewater is discarded in soaking pits, and is also recirculated for conservation. The factory is using a disc pulper with three sets of discs to remove the skin and fruit from the inner parchment layer that is protecting the green coffee bean. After pulping, the coffee is fermented overnight to break down the sugars, before it is cleaned, soaked and spread out on the raised drying tables.