This is a single outturn from a factory (wet mill) in Kenya's western Kericho county. Kericho has a unique climate and a long history of producing excellent coffee, despite being less famous than the country's central counties. We buy a small selection of western coffees each year, for their uniqueness in the cup and durable cooperatives, like Kichawir, which has grown its membership 13 times over since its foundation.
Kenya's Western Coffees
Kericho county is a long stretch west from Nairobi, far further than the country’s accessible central counties, most of which can be reached in two hours’ drive from the city. To reach Kericho, it's a sweeping route along the eastern escarpment of the majestic Rift Valley, down across the valley's lake-filled lowlands, up the opposite slope, and back into the rolling hills along Kenya's border regions with Uganda.
Tea is Kenya’s most lucrative export by far, and Kericho county is a tea-producing powerhouse (“Kericho Gold” is one of Kenya’s national brands of bagged tea that is exported worldwide). The county sits just over the ridge from the enormous Lake Victoria, a source of near-constant humidity cycles for the region and an outlet for much of its local trade. In specialty coffee, this part of Kenya is lesser-known than the central counties. But producer groups here as just as old, experienced, and organized as Kenya’s more famous regions.
Kichawir FCS
Kichawir Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS) was founded in 1999 with only 99 farmer members. Today the society has over 1200 contributing members, averaging less than 2 hectares each of coffee, tea, and subsistence crops.
Kichawir is located in the Kipkelion district of Kericho county surrounded by the scenic beauty of the Nandi hills and Mau Natural Reserve, at the admirable elevation of 1920 meters, higher than many central Kenya organizations are found.
The society exports via Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters, a cooperatively-owned miller and exporter formed in 2009 that currently represents more than 50 cooperative societies across the country and is one of Kenya's largest exporters.
Processing at Kichawir
Kenya is of course known for some of the most meticulous at-scale processing that can be found anywhere in the world. Bright white parchment, nearly perfectly sorted by density and bulk conditioned at high elevations is the norm, and a matter of pride, even for generations of Kenyan processing managers who prefer drinking Kenya’s tea (especially in Kericho) to its coffee. The established milling and sorting by grade, or bean size, is a longstanding tradition and positions Kenya coffees well for roasters, by tightly controlling the physical preparation and creating a diversity of profiles from a single processing batch. Kichawir depulps and ferments their coffee the same day they are picked and delivered by members. Fermentation takes place overnight, and the coffee is then washed clean and dried slowly over 2-3 weeks on raised beds.
Kenya's Outturn System
“14KK0016” in the title refers to this coffee’s “outturn” number. Outturn numbers are unique microlot codes that are given to each and every batch of parchment delivered to dry mills from individual factories or estates anywhere in Kenya, and are the units on which Kenya’s entire microlot export system is built. Outturns in Kenya are tracked with a shorthand code that places the specific batch of parchment coffee in time, place, and sequentially with other coffees. Outturns are stylized as an 8 or 9-character code, including a 2-digit “coffee week” number, a 2-letter mill code, and a 3 or 4-digit intake number for the coffee’s delivery. This particular code accompanies the lot throughout the entire journey from factory to export to ensure full traceability.
