Kenya Kirinyaga Nguguini AA

Nguguini is a green coffee "Factory" located in the Kirinyaga district, just across the border from Nyeri. Factories are basically what we call a wet mill, or washing station, a local station where farmers bring coffee cherry fruit for processing in Kenya. These Factories are cooperatives made up by local coffee farmers in the surrounding villages, most of which have tiny plots of coffee, less than 1 hectare in size. Ngugu-ini was established in 1958 as part of the Kibirigwi Cooperative Society ("FCS"), an umbrella of eight Kirinyaga coops in total, serving more than 7,000 coffee farmers (Ngugu-ini has 1,200 members). The wet mill stands at 1650 meters above sea level, which is a good estimation of median altitude for the farms delivering here. AA, AB and Peaberry separations are made from a single day's harvest, and are merely separations of different bean size range. AA are the largest, and command the highest premiums, but we're never really sure which will shine brightest. In the case of this coffee, we didn't get to taste the AB and Peaberry separations, but were floored by the vibrance and complex matrix of flavor found in this AA.