Fruity & Acidic

Chorongi

Chorongi is one of seven stations owned by the Mutheka Farmer’s Cooperative Society, alongside Kiandu, Kamuyu, Kigwandi, Kihuyo, Muthuaini and the Kaiguri station we purchased from earlier in the season. The Chorongi station lies just outside the city of Nyeri, where Mutheka has their offices. Nyeri city is a major centre for coffee in the Mount Kenya region, home to several dry mills and large warehouses, where coffee is stored before being taken to port in Mombasa. Driving through Nyeri on our trip in January this year, we were stunned by the beauty of this region. On certain turns in the road, the looming silhouette of Mt. Kenya reveals itself from behind forests of lush green, contrasting with the iconic dusty red volcanic soil. These soils, alongside mostly dry and warm conditions during harvest, are some of the keys behind Kenya’s incredible coffee quality potential.

Combine this excellent raw material with the traditional Kenyan ‘double soaked’ washed process, and the result is an excellent example of the Kenya profile, with bright floral character reminiscent of raspberries and black tea.

Processed at the Chorongi station, owned by the Mutheka Farmers Cooperative Society.

Kenya’s traditional washed process is a big factor in the unique character of Kenyan coffees. The cherries are first depulped mechanically, as soon as they arrive at the factory. The cherries should arrive for depulping as soon as possible after picking, hence why cooperatives make a great effort to have factories located close to concentrations of smallholders. After depulping, the seeds are covered in a layer of sticky fruity pulp, or mucilage. The mucilage is fermented in large tanks for between 12 and 24 hours, breaking it down to a point that it can be thoroughly ‘washed’ from the seeds, using long washing channels. Then, before drying, the cherries are taken to another set of fermentation tanks, and fermented again under water, normally for a shorter time, between 10 and 12 hours. This ‘double soak’ is popular in Kenya, and is useful not only for enhancing the cleanliness and intensity of the final cup, but also as a second opportunity to sort for lower density floating seeds, as these are often of lower quality, or from unripe cherries. This attention to detail is the reason Kenyan coffees are so consistently of very high quality, and why they carry a price premium above many other producing countries.