Kenya Murang'a Gondo AA

Gondo coffee factory was established in 1998 in the Kihoya subregion Murang’a county’s Mathioya District. Currently, 727 producers deliver their coffee to Gondo. 

After carefully tending their coffee trees all season, Gondo’s producers selectively hand-pick ripe red cherries as they reach perfection. Even with all that care, they give a second post-harvest pass, separating ripe cherry from underripes, overripes, and any foreign matter that makes it into the mix. The harvested cherries are delivered for pulping at the wet mill the same day to be wet-processed using fresh, clean water from the nearby Kananahu stream. The processing water is recirculated before disposal into evaporation and seepage pits to avoid acidifying local waterways. The pulped beans are fermented for mucilage removal for 16-18 hours, then washed and graded. The parchment is then dried under the sun using moisture meters for consistency. Dry parchment is then hulled, graded, sorted, and bagged. 

The rains in Kihoya area arrive in two seasons, one shorter and one longer. The main crop relies on the longer rainy season that comes between April and June while the fly crop receives its rain between October and November. 

The coffee farms are very close to the washing station (20 minutes away maximum), so farmers usually transport their coffee via motorbike. Sometimes, the washing station hires a truck to go from farm to farm and collect coffee instead. 

Due to its proximity to Mount Kenya this region is home to abundant native wildlife. Some of the species here include snakes, deer, hare, weaverbird, owl, and hawks. Numerous indigenous plant species like Neem trees grow here too. 

Most people marry within their tribe. Everyone in the area speaks Kikuyu, but communities have small dialect differences. 

The farms here are mostly very small (1-2 hectares) and adults work the farms while children attend school all day. Schools here cost money, which unfortunately limits access to education and future opportunities in this mostly-poor area. Due to lack of opportunity, much of the young population is migrating en masse to cities in search of better jobs, leaving their parents alone on the farms or even taking their parents and abandoning their farms. This problem gets worse each year. But some producers remain hopeful that coffee can provide good business opportunities for their children.

History of Coffee in Kenya

It seems likely that coffee grew wild within the region that would become Kenya, buried deep inside impenetrable forests, or perhaps hiding in plain site; but it wasn’t until 1895 that missionaries both protestant and catholic attempted to grow coffee for commercial purposes. The 100 seeds from Reunion Island that would serve as progenitors to the Kenyan coffee industry arrived on a train, carried by priests belonging to an order known as “Holy Ghost Fathers.” On August 12th, 1899, they arrived at the spot that would quickly become the country’s capital city. One of the early protestant medical missionaries was Dr. Henry Scott. After his death in 1911, a new hospital complex was named after Dr. Scott and when the department of agriculture took over the complex in 1923 they kept the name: Scott Agricultural Laboratories, or “Scott Labs.” This is the origin of the “SL” in SL28 and other coffee varieties selected at the lab.

Growing Coffee in Kenya

Coffee is grown through the highland regions of Kenya, including Kisii, Nyanza, and Bungoma in the west; Nakuru and Kericho in the Great Rift Valley; Machakos, Embu, and Meru to the east of Mt. Kenya; and the Taita hills near the coast. The largest and oldest coffee growing areas are the central highlands, particularly Nyeri, sandwiched between the foothills of Mt Kenya to the east and the Aberdare mountain range to the west. Most coffee in Kenya is grown between 4,500 and 6,500 feet. Nearly all of Kenya’s 700,000 coffee producers are small land holders belonging to cooperatives. Most common varieties in Kenya are Ruiru 11, SL28, SL34, and K7. SL34 and K7 were developed from heirloom bourbon known as “French Mission,” which was the primary variety grown prior to the 1930’s that can still be found today, as can Blue Mountain on some farms. Kenyan coffees are graded by screen size and while there are several grades, specialty coffee is AA, AB, or PB (peaberry), used in combination with quality grade FAQ or FAQ Plus (Fair Average Quality).