Kenya Love Story

Kenya Kagumo AA Washed is a textbook example of what makes Kenyan coffee world-famous. Intense blackberry fruitiness, bright citrus acidity and a tea-like character with a hibiscus finish — a cup that wakes you up and keeps you alert.

It comes from Kirinyaga County, spread across the western slopes of Mount Kenya — the second highest mountain in Africa. Processed using the precise Kenyan fully washed method, which gives Kenyan coffees their signature clarity and uncompromising acidity.

Kirinyaga County lies on the western slopes of Mount Kenya, 115 km north of Nairobi. Mineral-rich red volcanic soils, clean mountain water and cool nights create ideal conditions for slow cherry ripening. The result: dense, sweet beans with characteristically bright, juicy acidity. Kenya at the top of its game.

Kagumo Coffee Factory is one of nine processing stations run by the Mutira Farmers Cooperative Society, founded in the early 1950s. Over 1,500 smallholder farmers deliver their cherries here — each farm averaging just 0.1 hectares. Every delivery is weighed and digitally recorded; farmers receive immediate confirmation via mobile phone. Full traceability from field to cup.

SL28 and SL34 are legendary Kenyan varieties developed by Scott Laboratories in the 1930s and 40s — to this day among the most sought-after specialty coffees in the world for their extraordinary complexity and blackberry fruitiness. Batian is a more modern, disease-resistant Kenyan variety with a similar flavour profile. The combination of all three is a trump card.

Farmers hand-pick only perfectly ripe red cherries and deliver them to the Kagumo station the same day.

Unripe, overripe and damaged cherries are removed after delivery. No defect passes through.

The skin and most of the pulp are mechanically removed. The bean remains in its parchment with a thin layer of mucilage.

The parchment coffee ferments for approximately 24 hours, allowing the remaining mucilage to break down naturally. A key step for the clarity and complexity of the Kenyan profile.

After fermentation, the coffee is thoroughly washed with clean mountain water and then soaked for approximately 6 hours. This soaking step is unique to Kenyan processing — it is precisely what gives Kenyan coffees their signature bright acidity and clarity.

The parchment dries on raised African beds, regularly turned and shaded from intense sun. Slow, even drying. All water used in processing is recirculated — zero contamination of surrounding waterways.

Kagumo AA Washed is an African lesson in clarity. 1,500 farmers, the slopes of Mount Kenya, SL28 and SL34 varieties, six precise processing steps — and the result in the cup speaks for itself. Blackberries, lemon, black tea. Bright. Clean. Kenya.