Kenia Ruka Chui
The Farm
The total area under coffee cultivation in Kenya is estimated at 160,000 hectares. Plantations account for about a third of the area. However, most of the land is used by smallholder farmers. They are usually members of cooperatives. Coffee is usually sold through weekly auctions during the harvest season.
The importer we work with has relationships with different cooperatives and selects lots with a distinctive Kenyan profile under the name Ruka Chui. ‘Ruka’ is a Swahili word meaning jump and ‘Chui’ is a Swahili word meaning leopard. This AB Plus coffee is a blend from the central regions of Murang’a, Nyeri and Kirinyaga. It is composed of the SL-34, SL-28, Ruiru 11 and Batian varieties, all of which benefit from the high altitudes, deep red and nutritious volcanic soils, and moderate rainfall in the area.
Process Method
After harvesting, the coffee cherries are sent to the Kianjiru, Kangocho, Ruchu or Ruambiti factory for processing. There, the floaters are removed and the heaviest cherries are pulped as the first grade.
After pulping, the coffee is stored overnight, washed, soaked and spread on elevated drying pallets, allowing for optimal airflow. The parchment is then frequently turned on drying tables, sorted and stored before delivery to the dry mill.
Although the coffee plant was introduced into Kenya from Arabia by Catholic missionaries around 1896, it was not until the early XX century that the coffee industry takes a strong boom in what was then a British colony.
Kenya is today one of the most respected and admired coffee origins. This is due not only to a combination of a reddish and fertile soil of volcanic origin, a moderate climate, equatorial light and varietals of native Arabica of the country (SL28, is the best known and used), but also by an incessant research on coffee growing , an excellent organization of small producers organized in cooperatives that seek excellence and above all that every small batch of green coffee is sold individually in the auctions of Nairobi so that each of them reach for their quality the price they deserve.
Auction bids are an extraordinary mechanism to make quality stand out so that both the producer is rewarded and the roaster who seeks it can acquire it.
Within a triangle formed by Mount Kenya, Nairobi and Machakos, is the Kenyan region of ‘Black Gold’. Some of the best coffees in the world grow here and represent approximately 85% or more of the country’s annual coffee harvest. The other part is found in western Kenya, in the Rift Valley and in the Taita area.
The beginnings of coffee farming in Kenya, at the beginning of the 20th century, were immortalized in the memory of Isak Dinesen in his famous book “Memories of Africa”.
10,50 € – 42 €
Envío gratuito a partir de 40€ de compra. (Península y Baleares)