Kenya – Ichamama AB

This coffee is from the Ichamama Factory, a washing station near Karima Hill in Nyeri. The station was named after the Ichamama river which flows near enough to the station to be the source of water for processing coffee. Ichamama is one of 19 washing stations that make up the Othaya Farmer’s Cooperative Society, a coop-run organization, one of the older ones. Othaya started in the mid-1950s, ballooning from 250 original members to 15,000 strong today. Karima is one of the older of the group, erected in 1964, and currently with nearly 1,000 farmer members (and is one of the most productive of the 19). The farm area under coffee production is estimated at 1,255,000 coffee trees of various varieties of SL 28 & SL 34, Ruiru 11, and Batian covering an area of 2,370 Acres. Coffee revenue provides livelihoods for 14,500 families and has created job opportunities directly at 19 wet mills, dry mill, and administration. There are 98 permanent employees and 300 casual employees during peak period. The station sits at about 1750 meters above sea level, and coffee is grown in the higher altitude areas surrounding it. This lot “AB” is a separation of the medium-large sized beans measured in a range of 15 to 17 1/64″. When compared with the two other upper-tier grades “Peaberry” and “AA”, it’s not always indicative of higher or lower quality, though the cash premium spread generally favors the AA slightly more than AB or PB. 

There are sweet toasted sugar and caramel smells in the dry fragrance that also sees a dark, dried fruit note folded in. With a complex cup profile, the wet aroma further confirms this with stronger fruit smells like pineapple backed with dark, raw sugar sweetness. In the brewed coffee there’s a notable citrus flavor that has flavor elements of slightly bittering types like pink grapefruit and kumquat, a juicy sweetness with some of the rindy bite you’d expect from the fruit. The citrus flavors are grabby and are buttressed by flavor aspects of dark brown sugar-like panela, and with a slight caramelizing/cooked sweetness. As the cup cools off, the finish comes to show a cranberry sauce accent, replete with citrus hints, and a cinnamon stick note marking the finish.