Kenya - Gicherori AA

Origin

• 🇰🇪 Kenya· Embu

Tasting notes

Character

• Clean
  25
• Floral
  25
• Funky
  20

Founded in 1994 in Kibugu, Embu County, Kenya, Gicherori Coop is part of the Kibugu Farmers Cooperative Society and supports approximately 1,200 smallholderSmallholderA farmer growing coffee on a small family plot — often under two hectares. Most of the world's coffee is grown this way, typically pooled at cooperatives or washing stations. farmers. Situated at elevations of 1,600–1,800 meters in fertile volcanic soils, the farmers cultivate SL 28SL28A Kenyan variety selected in the 1930s by Scott Agricultural Laboratories, prized for intense blackcurrant acidity and deep sweetness. and SL 34SL34SL28's sibling selection, also from Kenya's Scott Labs. Slightly less celebrated but hardier, with a similar juicy, complex cup. coffee varieties. The coop employs a meticulous fully washedWashed processThe fruit is removed from the seed before drying, usually with fermentation and a water rinse. Tends to give clean, transparent cups where origin character shows clearly. and sun-driedNatural processThe whole cherry is dried with the fruit still on the seed. Gives heavier body and big fruit flavors — think berries and wine — sometimes with a fermenty edge. process, with harvests occurring twice a year—from October to December and from April to July. Dedicated to quality and sustainability, Gicherori maintains traditional washing techniques, treats all processing water to safeguard local waterways, and protects indigenous trees to promote biodiversity. When cherries arrive at the Co Op, they are spread out for sorting, with underripe and overripe fruit carefully removed. The selected cherries are pulped, graded by density, and fermented overnight before being thoroughly washed. Using traditional hand-sorting in tiled channels, the highest-quality beans are separated. These beans are then sun-dried on raised beds under close supervision until they reach a moisture content of 10–12%. This careful handling preserves the beans’ natural sweetness and accentuates the bright acidityAcidityThe bright, lively, fruit-like sensation in coffee — praise, not a flaw. Citric sparkle, malic apple-crispness, tartaric wine notes; light roasts preserve more of it., producing a clean, complex cup with notes of gooseberry jam, blackcurrant, and earl grey tea.