MORE ABOUT

THIS COFFEE

The Kiamugumo coffee factory is part of the New Ngariama Farmer’s Cooperative Society that has a membership of 1,500 smallholder coffee producers in Ngariama, in Kirinyaga region. The factory is 130 kilometres northwest from Nairobi on the slopes of Mount Kenya, surrounded by other coffee, tea and corn processing plants.

The smallholder producers that sell their coffee cherry to Kiamugumo coffee factory grow their coffee in the rich, volcanic soil on the slopes of Mount Kenya. Typically, the climate ranges from 12 to 25 ˚C year round and the area receives an annual rainfall of almost 1,700mm. The main crop is harvested October through December/January and with a second crop harvested April through June.

After picking, ripe cherries are brought to the factory by the smallholder farmers, where they are paid for their daily harvest. At the factory, the coffee is pulped with the skin and the majority of the fruit cleaned off of the coffee seed (beans). The coffee is fermented in large tanks to remove the remainder of the fruit from the coffee and washed with water gathered from the nearest water source, the Kii River. After being used for washing the coffee, the water is filtered through a series of ponds, before being led back into the natural environment. This is just one example of the Kiamugumo Coffee Factory’s efforts to preserve the natural flora and fauna that surrounds the community.

After washing, the coffee is dried on typical African raised beds that allow good air circulation between the beans, creating an evenly dried coffee. Beans are dried to between 11 and 13 % moisture content and then brought to the Central Kenya Coffee Mill in Karatina Nyeri county for grading, sorting and export.

Kiamugumo Coffee factory is run by a local factory manager and a team of permanent staff that weigh coffee cherry, select and grade coffee, pay farmers, address farmers’ complaints and work to further the education of the members of the community. Sustainability is front of mind for the Kiamugumo factory, as they work with the producer members to conserve the surrounding environment and towards long-term goals of increasing coffee production, access to training seminars, and access to education and sustainable processes for the farmers they work with. They also maintain a demonstration coffee farm that coffee growers can visit and use as a reference for improvements and actions to take on their own farms.