Like many of our coffees, relationships fostered over many years bring it into our roastery and cafes. Mbula Musau of Utake (Swahili for Desire) Coffee exported this lot of just 43 bags. Marcus and Mbula have fostered a relationship through their shared experience as instructors with the SCA Coffee Skills Program. Mbula in turn, worked with Phyllis Johnson’s BD Imports to bring this coffee to goodboybob and the US market. Marcus has long wanted to work with Phyllis due to her work on gender equity, supporting women in coffee-producing countries, and the innovative advocacy and action on gender and racial equity.

This particular lot comes from the Rungeto Farmers Cooperative Society’s Kiangoi Coffee Factory (known as a wet mill in other parts of the world). Member farms typically cultivate coffee on approximately ½ an acre, each with about 250 trees. Rungeto values quality, starting with only the ripest coffee cherries being delivered for processing. Kiangoi has a reputation as one of the cleanest and most organized coffee factories in Kenya, which is known for exceptional processing and producing high-quality coffees. This is due in large part to their meticulous attention to detail, which includes hand-sorting cherries at the time of delivery and then floating cherries prior to processing to remove less dense or damaged fruit.

Once the coffee has been depulped, fermented, and washed, the coffee is then soaked in clean water. This is a classic Kenya process known as double washed, which imparts some of what we think of as the unique Kenyan flavor profile. After the soak, the coffee is dried and sorted for at least two weeks on raised beds. 

In Kenya, coffee is classified and graded based on size. AA is the largest (screen 18/64 of an inch). This lot is AB Grade (screen size of 16-17). Though not as highly valued as AA, I often prefer AB. Look for flavors of Grapefruit, pineapple, malt, and panella.

• Producer: Rungeto Cooperative
• Farm: Kiangoi Coffee Factory
• Region: Kirinyaga, Central Kenya
• Varieties: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, Batian
• Processing: Wash and Clean Water Soak (“Kenya double washed”)
• Altitude: 1600 - 1800 meters