AA Githembe / Kenya

The coffee produced at Githembe Factory is made from cherries delivered by approximately 1,500 smallholder farming households from the surrounding area. Each household typically grows around 250 coffee trees on less than one hectare of land. Rather than being associated with a single farm or named producer, this coffee is a collective lot produced by the wider community.

One of the most interesting aspects of Kenya’s cooperative system is the way cherries gathered from such a large number of farms are brought together into a consistent level of quality through careful selection and processing. The character found in Githembe’s cup is the result of this accumulated work.

Githembe is operated by the Thiririka Farmers Cooperative Society. The cooperative manages three factories: Kiganjo, Ndundu, and Githembe, with its headquarters located in Kiganjo. It is considered one of the largest cooperatives in Kiambu County. Approximately 2,400 farmers are registered with the cooperative, around 1,500 of whom deliver their cherries to Githembe.

The cooperative takes its name from the Thiririka River, which flows through the region. Kiganjo Factory is said to use water drawn from this river to wash its coffee.

Githembe Factory is believed to have been established in 1969. Its current factory manager previously spent approximately 15 years managing Ndundu Factory.

Kiambu County borders Nairobi to the north. The town of Gatundu, where Githembe is located, lies approximately 27 kilometres from the capital in a straight line. Within driving distance of Nairobi, coffee-growing areas extend across elevations of 1,600 to 1,800 metres above sea level.

This proximity to Nairobi is now having a significant impact on the region. As the metropolitan area expands, coffee farms have increasingly been replaced by property development. Between 1986 and 2014, agricultural land in Kiambu County reportedly declined by approximately 30%, while built-up areas increased by more than 40%. Kenya’s Coffee Research Institute has also raised concerns about farmland being converted into residential development. Along Thika Road, where extensive coffee estates once stood, shopping centres and apartment buildings now dominate the landscape.

Land is also divided further with each generation of inheritance, reducing the average area cultivated by each household to less than one acre. The scale described in §1—approximately 250 trees on less than one hectare—exists within this wider trend. Despite these conditions, around 1,500 farming households continue to grow coffee for Githembe.

The soil is a red clay rich in nutrients and organic matter. The area surrounding the factory has an average annual temperature of approximately 20.5°C and receives around 1,400 millimetres of rainfall per year.

The varieties grown at Githembe are SL28, SL34, Batian, and Ruiru 11. The seeds are said to be certified by Kenya’s Coffee Research Institute.

SL28 and SL34 were selected by Scott Agricultural Laboratories during the 1930s and have played an important role in shaping the distinctive acidity associated with Kenyan coffee. Both varieties, however, are vulnerable to disease. SL28 in particular is known to be highly susceptible to both coffee berry disease and coffee leaf rust.

Batian and Ruiru 11 were developed in response to these disease pressures. Ruiru 11 was released in 1985, following a breeding programme launched after the major coffee berry disease outbreak of 1968, during which Kenya lost approximately half of its coffee production. Batian is a more recent variety, released in 2010. There are also reports that Ruiru 11 is grafted onto SL28 at Githembe. This appears to combine the disease resistance of one variety with the flavour characteristics of another.

We purchase this coffee through Nordic Approach, a green coffee importer based in Oslo. Export from Kenya is handled by Ibero Kenya. This is the third time we have purchased coffee from Githembe.

Kenyan coffee has a clearly defined place within the FUGLEN lineup. Its intense fruit character and vivid flavour profile cannot easily be replaced by coffee from another origin. Because it arrives each year in early summer, it also signals the beginning of the season for us.

Kenya has two coffee harvest periods each year: the main crop from October to December and the fly crop from May to July. We always purchase coffee from the main crop, which generally becomes available between January and April of the following year.

Farmers selectively handpick only ripe cherries and deliver them to the factory. On arrival, the cherries are spread across sheets inside the sorting area and manually inspected to ensure they meet the factory’s standards. Reception staff supervise this process and confirm that the sorting has been carried out correctly.

The selected cherries are passed through a pulper, which removes the outer skin and produces parchment coffee—the seed still enclosed in its parchment layer. At this stage, the parchment is covered in a sticky layer known as mucilage. Mucilage consists mainly of water, together with sugars and pectin, a polysaccharide responsible for the viscosity found in fruit. The way this layer is broken down is considered to influence the sweetness and acidity of the final coffee.

At Githembe, the parchment is placed in tanks without water and fermented for approximately 16 to 24 hours. Microorganisms naturally present on the cherries and in the surrounding environment gradually break down the mucilage. Once fermentation is complete, the parchment is washed and transferred to a separate tank filled with clean water, where it is soaked for a further 16 to 18 hours. This soaking stage is a characteristic feature of Kenyan washed processing and is thought to help remove fermentation by-products, contributing to a cleaner cup profile.

In the washing channels, the parchment is separated by density into P1, P2, P3, and PL, or P Light. P1 represents the highest-density parchment, with each subsequent grade becoming progressively lighter. P1 passes through the full fermentation and soaking process, while the lighter P3 grade may bypass some stages and move directly to drying.

In recent years, parchment from Githembe has been dried at Kiganjo Factory, which belongs to the same cooperative. Coffee theft has become an issue in the region, and the cooperative has reportedly responded by consolidating its coffee at a single location for more secure management.

This problem is not limited to Githembe. Another cooperative in Gatundu South has experienced the theft of approximately 100 bags of parchment coffee, while organised coffee theft has also been reported more broadly across Kenya. It remains one of the challenges facing the producing region.

Once ready for drying, the parchment, with a moisture content of approximately 55%, is first moved to mesh-covered beds known as skin-drying beds. It remains there for between six hours and one day, allowing surface moisture to evaporate and reducing the moisture content to around 45%. The parchment is then transferred to raised drying tables known as African beds, where it dries gradually. It is protected with plastic sheeting during periods of intense daytime sunlight and overnight. Drying usually takes between seven and fourteen days, although it can take up to approximately twenty-one days depending on the weather.