Kenya Karani Kirinyaga AA

Raisins, Rose, Grapefruit

Kirinyaga County sits at the foothills of Mount Kenya, from which the county’s name is derived. Kirinyaga means the ‘crest of whiteness’ in the Kikuyu language, synonymous with the beautiful, snow-capped peaks.

Karani is located in Kirinyaga County in the Central highlands of Kenya. It is one of 10 factories that form the Kabare Cooperative Society.

The Karani factory is a set in a beautiful, fertile and forested location and is surrounded by thousands of smallholder subsistence farmers who grow coffee as a cash crop alongside potatoes, bananas, mangoes, avocados and some livestock – usually a cow or two for diary production and chickens for eggs and meat.  The average altitude of these smallholdings is approximately 1,500 MASL, a factor which contributes to the fine flavour of the coffee. The growers have the advantage of deep and rich soils that were created from the ash of the extinct volcano – Mount Kenya.

The Karani factory, which was established in 1968, is managed by David Mwendia who has held that position since 2008. David is focused on producing high quality coffee so is strict with deliveries by smallholders to the factory, allowing only very ripe, red cherry to be processed. Farmers must tip their cherries onto a tarpaulin sheet for inspection and further sorting before the coffee can be weighed and submitted to the pulper hoppers.

Area: Kirinyaga

Process: Fully Washed

Variety: SL28, SL34

Altitude: 1840m