Kenya Kiaga PB, Washed

Kiaga is one of 19 factories managed by Othaya Farmers Cooperative Society, an organisation of 19 small wet mills (known as “factories,”) in and around the town of Othaya in Nyeri county. The society was registered in 1956 with 250 farmers, and has since grown to over 15,000 members. 

Many factors make Othaya extraordinary, chief among them strong social unity, a holistic approach to business management and a progressive view towards quality control throughout the supply chain. The society has a nursery and farm store to supply its members with inputs, equipment and seedlings. Farm management workshops are offered regularly, and factory managers are routinely trained on wet mill best practices. Othaya has sample roasting and cupping facilities at the Gatuyaini factory, and society staff cup samples of every lot delivered during the harvest season. Also at Gatuyaini factory is a complete dry milling installation, allowing the society to manage even the parchment hulling sorting and grading elements of their operation. 

This lot is a Peaberry (PB) lot – the word peaberry describes the coffee bean itself, not the origin or variety.  Peaberry coffee is a naturally occurring mutation present in all coffee varieties where only one bean is present inside of the coffee cherry instead of the normal two, occurring as a result of one ovule failing to pollinate. This results in extra space for the single developing seed. Within this space, a rounder seed grows inside. It’s commonly said that peaberries can offer bright acidity, sweetness, and concentrated and complex flavours in a cup, though their quality is affected by the same variables, such as variety, processing method, and altitude, as regular coffee beans. To create this PB lot of SL28/SL34 varieties, the PB beans were sorted out separately from the regular coffee cherries by density and size.