Kenya – Handege AB

Cooperative: Ritho Farmers’ Cooperative Society

Department and District: Gatandu, Kiambu

Altitude: 1600-1800 MASL

Varietal: SL-28, Ruiru-11,

Process: Washed and sundried on raised beds

Notes: Mango, Vanilla cream, Papaya

Kenyan coffees to us are some of the best in the world. They are complex but at the same time come together to form a very balanced and tasty coffee. This one is no exception. Although not as a citric punch as your most notable Kenyan coffees, the sweetness in this one is over the top. We taste lots of sweet mango with a vanilla cream undertone that is just delicious. We have fallen in love with this coffee, it is an easy-drinking coffee but at the same time it is complex. As the coffee cools the acidity is vibrant.

The name, Handege, is derived from Ndege, the Swahili word for airplane. Handege Coffee factory is affiliated with Ritho Farmers’ Cooperative Society. This society is located in Gatundu location, Kiambu County and it was founded in 1972.

Nowhere are coffees as thoroughly cleaned as they are in Kenya. The typical process looks something like this: after depulping, coffee beans are left to ferment. Then, after 24 hours they are washed and left to ferment again, without water, for another 12-24 hours. The parchment is then washed before being soaked in tanks for another period of roughly 12-18 hours. At this stage, the beans are moved to skin drying beds where they are laid out in thin layers to allow the mass of water weight to fall. This happens over the course of a morning. This entire process is sometimes referred to as the 72 hour process. From there the coffee goes to raised drying beds for the next 8 to 12 days. By the end of this process, the coffee is as clean as a whistle. The work is already done. Not a drop of mucilage will be found on the pristinely white parchment, and no extra flavor is imparted to the beans except by what happened at the farm and in the fermentation tanks.