Kenya Nyeri Thageini Peaberry

This special lot of meticulously sorted peaberries consists of prized coffee seeds that grew with just one, rather than two seeds in each coffee cherry. They pack a ton of flavor, especially after they are carefully dried on raised screens for up to 3 weeks. The long dry time ensures consistent flavor and full maturation of deep, sophisticated notes redolent of cranberry, fig and cola nut.

The quality shows in the cup and contributes to the well-earned reputation of the Nyeri region as the heart of Kenya's black gold coffee.

Thageini is part of Aguthi Farmers' Cooperative Society from Nyeri County, this factory is composed of 465 producers who collectively harvest a total of 205 Hectares.

The harvest goes from October to December, at Thageini Factory the coffee is processed following the wet process method, where the fully ripe cherries are pulped, fermented and washed to finally be dried in African beds slowly for 2 to 3 weeks. The quality is also evident in the cup.

Region: Nyeri County

Elevation: 1600-1700 

Process: Washed

Farmer: Thageini Cooperative

Varietal: SL28, SL34

We Taste: Cranberry, Fig, Cola nut

Roast Level: Light (Agtron: 72)

We visited both the Rukira washing station (“factory”) and the Othaya Society’s Dry Mill and Cupping lab, hosted throughout by Newton Ndiritu one of the brightest coffee personalities in Kenya. Newton is both the factory chairman at the Rukira factory with approximately 560 members and the chairman of the entire Othaya Society (which comprises about 15,000 farmer members across several other factories).

Newton has raised the bar for his fellow member farmers at Rukira in a few ways. By using best-practice pruning methods and appropriate amounts of fertilizers he’s been able to increase the yield from around 5kg per tree to around 23 kg per tree, thereby showing a way to make farming coffee sustainable in the long-term. He’s smoothed the path for construction of the Othaya society’s own dry mill, which has helped control the quality all the way to our roastery. The dry mill also includes a state-of-the-art cupping lab, the best cupping lab our coffee buying team has seen at any society or factory. By controlling the process and continuously cupping the coffee, Rukira (and some other factories at Othaya) consistently turn out some of Kenya’s best coffees. The Rukira AA placed third in the Taste of Harvest competition this year, and we think you’ll enjoy it tremendously!