Kenya Kiambu Fram Farm Peaberry

Kiambu lies near the foothills of Gatamaiyo Forest Reserve, and at the border of neighboring Muranga County. Fram Farm started as a small 3 hectare plot that has been expanded on over the year to nearly 30 hectares. Visiting the farm, we saw mostly SL-28 planted, but were told they have small amounts of Ruiru 11 and Batian too. The farm spans an altitude range of roughly 1700 to 1850 meters above sea level. This is the peaberry separation from their harvest, the small, rounded coffee seeds that every shrub produces in very small amounts (less than 5% of yield). Peaberries occur when one of the two embryos within the coffee cherry fails to germinate, leaving the other to occupy the entire cherry, taking on its rounded shape, rather than the typical oval shaped bean with one flat side. Peaberries are often dense, and can take high heat in the roaster without having the roast get away from you. This is one of a few small estate coffees we've been lucky enough to buy the last few years. We tend to buy from the Farmers Cooperative Societies ("FCS"), and still do. But buying from a single estate affords us a different and unique opportunity to select coffee that we can trace back to its exact provenance, whereas with the FCS's, you're buying a blend of hundreds and sometimes thousands of small holders. This is certainly not a bad thing as some of our finest Kenyas are through FCS's, just different. We still turn to the coops for the majority of our coffee, but are hoping to continue to cultivate buying relationships with a small number of Kenyan small estates as well.