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Kenya Coffee Origin Guide: Regions, History & Flavor Profile

Coffees from Kenya are often immediately recognizable due to the distinct savoriness and sharp acidity. Common flavors include tomato and grapefruit, with high acidity and complex savory notes. In 2004 Kenya produced 750,000 60kg bags and ranked #20 in production volume globally. Although production is lower than Ethiopia, it is well regarded and sought after in the specialty coffee region. Smallholder farmers make up much of the production in Kenya and, like Ethiopia, does not trade coffee on the C market. There are some small and medium estates, but very view large estates with 50 acres or more. The land has rich soil, diverse microclimates, and an abundance of rivers flowing throughout the entire country. Easy access to water makes washed process the go-to for the region and producers will do a double- or even triple-wash on their coffee cherry. Washing stations are often centralized.

History

History

Coffee was introduced to Kenya by British colonizers from Réunion as early as 1893, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that the indigenous people were empowered to grow coffee on their own lands. Prior to 1934, most coffee plantations owned by the British were forced labor camps where Kenyans worked as slaves. 

Advances in the 1930s included the establishment of the Coffee Board of Kenya in 1931, and the first auction in 1935. In 1944 cooperatives were institutionalized, requiring smallholder (5 acres or less) participation, a move that weakened their standing, as the Coffee Board’s members were mostly estate owners. 

However, in 1963, Kenya gained its independence from England, and plantation land was nationalized and redistributed. Cooperatives were empowered and nearly $4 million were provided in loans for the expansion of processing capacity and building new washing stations (called factories in Kenya). While many of these loans unfortunately resulted in indebted groups, cooperatives and cooperative unions that persisted remain an important part of the coffee supply chain in Kenya to this day, first surpassing estate production volume in 1978. Today, approximately 75% of Kenya’s coffee lands are farmed by smallholders, but they account for only about half of its annual production volume. 

While Kenya does not submit physical coffee to be priced against the C market, some exporters do price and hedge their coffees with it. However, much of the coffee is priced and sold through the Kenyan coffee auction. Since 1963, a weekly government-run open auction system has allowed Kenya to take control over sales of coffee. The auction takes place at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) and is considered to have the most transparent price discovery and distribution systems. The NCE is often viewed by neighboring countries as an example to follow; its prices are regularly among the highest, pound for pound, for any weekly coffee auction anywhere in the world. 

The auction encourages competition in cup quality and for popular estates and co-ops. The British grading system is standard practice in Kenya, assigning AA, AB, and Peaberry, et al, as a measure of bean size. 

In the 1990s and 2000s, numerous reforms were enacted to the NCE, improving negotiating power for producers, expanding the number of board agents, and increasing smallholder agency. In 2006, new legislation enacted Kenya’s so-called “Second Window,” allowing private exporters to trade directly with roasters and importers.  

Production

Production

Lease agreements are very common in Kenya, in which people lease out their land for coffee producers to grow on it. Agreements can be short term to long term, and some allow for new coffee seedlings to be planted and/or grafting new varieties on old rootstock.  

The Kenyan main crop is primarily harvested during traditional Northern Hemisphere harvest time periods, October-December. There is another second harvest from Kenya during the late spring/early summer called a ‘fly crop’. 

In 2023 Kenya exported $304 million worth of coffee with the US as its top destination. Coffee is the second highest volume agricultural product in the country, behind sugar.   

Regions 

Coffee grows throughout many regions in Kenya, each with unique climate and terroir which results in coffee with different flavor profiles. Some of the more popular regions include Nyeri, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Murang’a and Embu, all centrally located counties north of the capitol city of Nairobi and surrounding the nation’s largest peak, Mount Kenya, an extinct volcano. 

Nyeri is unquestionably the most famous specialty coffee region, near Mount Kenya. The red soil in the region produces some of the best cup quality available from the country. Smallholder producers make up most of the production in the region and coffee is one of the main crops available for the country.  

Kirinyaga is on the eastern side of Nyeri and benefits from volcanic soil being so close to Mount Kenya. Murang’a is lush, with lots of producers, up to 100,000 smallholders. This area was the first to be colonized by the British. Kiambu is one of the regions dominated by large estates, many of which are owned by multinational corporations. This implied a unilateral business model that often focuses on mechanized production with higher yield versus higher cup quality. Embu is also centered around Mount Kenya and many of the people living in the region are coffee producers.  

Cultivars

Cultivars

 Scott Agricultural Laboratories, now National Agricultural Laboratories was active in the 1930’s and is responsible for the selection numerous popular local varieties including SL28, SL34 and SL14.  

SL28 is a well-known cultivar in Africa and has a very good reputation for cup quality and resistance to drought. It does not fare well against major diseases in coffee but for the most part is durable and notable for its rusticity. Scott Agricultural Laboratories initially selected the cultivar from a Tanzanian Bourbon population. 

SL34, once thought to be a Bourbon selection, is now known to be a Typica-related tree, first selected by Scott Labs in the 1930’s. It is known for its great cup quality and moderately high yields but is susceptible to diseases and climate change.  

SL14 was also produced in the late 1930’s by Scott Labs and was selected from a single tree labeled Drought Resistant II. Genetic tests have confirmed that it is related to the Typica genetic group and it is important to both Kenya and Uganda.  

Ruiru 11 is a unique F1 hybrid, a bit of a Frankenstein coffee. Its parent trees are both complex hybrids, with a short stature Catimor hybrid pollen receiving plant, and the pollen donor a tall hybrid of SL28, SL34, Sudan Rume, K7, N39, the Timor Hybrid, and Bourbon. Ruiru 11 relies on hand pollination for mass propagation, a slow and tedious process that limits production. From the 1980’s until the early 2020’s it was the most widely distributed cultivar in the country, created in response to the 1968 coffee berry disease epidemic. It has a poor reputation with specialty cuppers who expect the flavors and sweetness of SL arabicas, but it is wildly popular with growers for its productivity and resistance. 

Batian is currently the most-planted tree in the country and is well-adapted for small holders due to its resistance to diseases and pests.  Developed in response to Ruiru’s poor international reception, it was released in  2010, and is essentially a reformulation of Ruiru, with single tree selections taken from the fifth generation (F5) and a released as a composite of three distinct genetic lines. It is an immensely productive tree with early maturation, often achieving full harvest yields by the second or third year after planting. 

K7 (Bourbon) and Kent (Typica) are older varieties still sometimes found in Kenya as well.