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ABOUT KENYAN COFFEE:
Kenya
coffee production dates back one hundred years. Coffee was originally
discovered in Ethiopia
, Kenya
’s
neighbour to the north. Unfortunately, just as in other coffee growing
regions of the world, the coffee trade in Kenya
triggered heated and bloody battles over the prime
growing lands. The Arabs, who monopolized the coffee trade for several
hundred years, killed and enslaved many thousand Kenyans and put them to
work in coffee production both in Kenya coffee fields and on Arabian coffee
plantations.
All Kenyan coffee is of the Arabica variety, grown on rich
volcanic soils in the highlands of Kenya
. Approximately 250,000 Kenyans are involved in coffee
production. Small holders with small plots of land produce most of the
coffee. They are members of cooperative societies which process their own
coffee.
There are two flowerings in each season. The blossom
normally appears shortly after the beginning of the long rains in March and
April. In most districts, the main crop ripens from October until the end
of the year. The second and smaller flowering comes with the short rains in
October or November. These are picked in the early part of the season,
often starting the following June.
During the harvest, only red ripe cherries are picked, and
always by hand. This entails frequent picking rounds with each tree picked
every ten days or so. Next comes the processing that is important in Kenya
exceptional quality.
Wet processing
Whereby the beans are washed, is mainly employed in East
Africa and some parts of Central
America . This process is relatively expensive,
but is beneficial to the quality of the coffee. The berries are first fed
through a water channel to soak them and to remove any impurities. The
unripe berries sink to the bottom, leaving the ripe fruit to float to the
top.
The ripe berries
can then be processed further. The fruit flesh of the berries is removed
with the help of a 'de-pulper ', a machine that has a roller with a
roughened surface. This scours away the fruit flesh (pulp) from the berries
under a stream of water. Previously, the remaining pulp was treated as
waste, but nowadays it is blended with minerals and turned into fertiliser.
In the second
stage of wet processing the coffee beans are fermented in large
water containers. The object of the fermentation process is not
only to dissolve any remaining fruit flesh, but also to remove the sticky
film surrounding the coffee beans, which is not water-soluble. This part of
the procedure, which lasts approximately two days, is very important.
The long period of fermentation is what first gives the coffee its rich
aroma and special flavour.
Washing :- On completion of the
fermentation process the coffee beans have to be washed. At this stage, the
beans are still surrounded by their parchment husk, and for this reason the
coffee is also referred to as 'parchment coffee'.
Drying :- The washed parchment coffee
drying racks and left out in the sun. To ensure that the beans dry evenly
they are turned over several times a day. Depending on the weather
conditions, this process takes five or six days depending on the weather.
Dried parchment coffee has an attractive golden yellow colour. The above
processes are done by the farmer or cooperative societies. After this the
farmer hands over the coffee to Licensed millers who will do the hulling and grading.
Milling: -
Next the parchment is stored in bags, before being mechanically hulled by
special machines. These peeling machines have grooved cast iron cylinders,
inside which the husk of the coffee beans is scoured away as they rub
against one another. At the end of this process the beans are generally
olive green in colour.
First the coffee
beans are sieved to remove any foreign objects and damaged beans. Next
they are mechanically graded according to size and shape. While it may be
widely known as a type of Kenya coffee, Kenya AA
is actually a classification of coffee grown in Kenya
. All Kenyan coffee is graded after it is hulled.
Grades are assigned based on the screen size of the bean. Beans with a
screen size of 17 or 18 (17/64 or 18/64 of an inch) are assigned the grade
AA, generally the largest bean. While the large bean size is considered by
many to be a sign of quality, it is important to note that it is only one
of many factors in determining high quality coffee. The smoothness of
Kenya Coffee’s acidity
and the subtle notes of its fruitiness make for an exceptional cup of
coffee.
Kenya
Coffee Growing Regions (Green)
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