Kenya Embu Ngerwe AA

The Ngerwe Factory is in Embu County, just across the border from Kirinyaga. This 1600 meter washing station is situated on the slopes of Mount Kenya, along with hundreds of small holder coffee farmers that surround it. Ngerwe is part of a larger cooperative sociate, Kibugu FCS ("Farmers Cooperative Society"), along with neighboring wet mills Kathakwa, Gikirima, Gicherori and Ndunduri. Coops tend to work with marketing agents, who help sell and export their coffee to buyers like us. They also often provide support to the coops that includes technical assistance, and pre-financing during the harvest season. That last part is crucial, not only for securing coffee cherries from cooperative members, but also provides cash advances to farmers that can be reinvested in their farms and at home. This is a wet process coffee, which in Kenya is known as "double washed", and touted for clean cup character. The coffee fruit is removed from the seeds using a disc-type depulper, common to Kenya. The sticky beans are then fermented for around 24 hours to break down any remaining fruit, and then soaked again in clean water overnight. Finally, the washed coffee is moved to raised beds where it will dry for 1 to 2 weeks depending on weather. This is an AA outturn, which means the beans are screened to separate out the largest coffee that measure 17-19 1/64ths of an inch. It's not always a sign of superior cup quality, but are generally given extra care in the dry milling phase and commands a much higher price.