This AA lot captures everything we love about Kenyan washed coffees. At the Getuya factory — run by the Mwirua Farmers Cooperative Society — 900 smallholder producers deliver SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11 and Batian cherries from their surrounding farms. After underwater fermentation for 15–24 hours, a triple wash, and drying on raised tables, the coffee emerges intensely vivid in the cup: blackcurrant, passionfruit-like acidity, and a caramel sweetness wrapped in a syrupy body.
This coffee is primarily made up of SL-28 and SL-34, two of the most prevalent coffee cultivars in the area. These cultivars are named after Scott Laboratories, the laboratory that promoted their wider distribution in Kenya during the early twentieth century. It contains a small proportion of the hybrid varieties, Ruiru 11 and Batian, which were cultivated as more robust varieties with better disease resistance. Both varieties have been backcrossed with SL-28 and SL-34 to achieve a high cup quality.
Kenya uses a grading system for all its exportable coffee lots - based on the bean size and assumed quality (with quality often linked to size). The grade directly correlates with the price a coffee can attract. This lot is graded as an AA (which means that the beans are screen size 18 and above).
The coffee was harvested between October and December 2024 and landed in the UK in August 2025. Cherries are delivered to Getuya on the same day they’re harvested, then hand-sorted to remove underripe and overripe fruit. The coffee is depulped and fermented in tanks for 15–24 hours before being washed three times to remove the sticky mucilage layer surrounding the bean. It’s then dried on raised beds for 7–15 days, depending on weather conditions.
We purchased this coffee from Cafe Imports, which they bought through Kenya’s coffee auction system. During harvest, weekly auctions are held at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange. These operate under strict protocols to ensure transparency and fair competition among buyers. Before each auction, each coffee lot undergoes a grading process, so that the exporters (i.e., buyers) have comprehensive information about the characteristics of each coffee. Licensed marketing agents (on behalf of cooperatives or producers) distribute samples of each coffee to registered exporters, who evaluate the coffee before submitting a sealed bid. This process often drives prices up, benefiting producers while maintaining quality controls.
For further details on the prices below visit our Transparency Page.
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