Kenya Kirinyaga Kainamui AB

Kainamui is a "factory," a coffee mill in Kenya terminology, from the Kirinyaga growing district. This is where the farmers bring the coffee cherry they harvest in the local area for pulping, fermenting, and sun-drying. It is a cooperative coffee, one of two mills in the New Ngariama Farmers Cooperative Society, in the town of Kianyaga. While we have nothing against estate coffees, oftentimes the qualities from cooperatives is superior in Kenya. In a coop, each member is tending to only 200-500 trees on less than a hectare, as opposed to a huge estate that uses agribusiness growing methods. On its face, you might suspect that blending different coffees from hundreds of farms (sometimes more than a thousand!) might compromise quality in some way. But in many parts of East Africa where this model is prevalent (Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, for example), the exact opposite is true. This is the AB selection, a top grade and the medium-sized beans just below AA. There's not always a distinction of quality between AA, AB, and Peaberry, but the flavors can vary. We sold out of the Peaberry lot a couple monts back, making this the final Kainamui coffee for the season.