Thunguri AA
€18,00 incl. VAT
Taste Profile
Black currant, black tea, lime, nougat and vibrant acidity.
Additional information
| Country | Kenya |
|---|---|
| Region | Nyeri |
| Farmer | Kibirigwi Farmers Cooperative Society |
| Variety | SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, Batian |
| Altitude | 1.600 masl |
| Processing | Washed |
Thunguri AA
The Thunguri Coffee Factory is a coffee washing station located in the Kirinyaga County in Kenya’s Central Province, 115 km from Nairobi and 5 km from Karatina town along the Nairobi – Nyeri highway.
Thunguri was established in 1962 and rests on eight acres of nutrient rich land in the fertile foothills of Mt. Kenya and Aberdare ranges, at 1,600m above sea level. It has 1,095 active contributing farmers who are members of the Kibirgwi Cooperative Society and live in the neighbouring villages of Kiamwe, Nguguini and Kiahiti.
The area experiences 1,300mm of rainfall per annum, and has a biannual production cycle. The fly (mitica) harvest is from April–June and the late second season is from October–December. This lot comes from the main harvest later in the year. A mild climate, with average temperatures ranging from 13-24 degrees Celsius, along with high altitudes, means that the coffee cherries grown in the region are able to mature slowly, allowing time for a high concentration of the sugars to develop in the fruit. The main varieties of coffee grown are SL-28, 34, K7 — which accounts to 99% of the coffee produced — and Ruiru 11, which accounts to the other 1%.
Thunguri receives assistance from Coffee Management Services (CMS) to work directly with cooperatives and members to help them improve their productivity and quality, through training and education programs. CMS have planted demonstration plots at Thunguri to reinforce best practices, and provide training for the factory manager on an annual basis. In addition, CMS also offers interest free advances before the season, to help sustain their farms and contribute to their school fee payments.
The objective of the program is to establish ongoing, transparent and trust-based relationships with the smallholder farmers, and to support sustained industry growth and drive continued improvements in quality, which ultimately translates to greater premiums for these coffees and their producers.
1. All the coffee cherries are hand-picked and delivered on the same day to the washing station, where it undergoes meticulous sorting. This is also done by hand and is overseen by a ‘cherry clerk’ who ensures any unripe and damaged cherries are removed. The ripe cherry is then digitally weighed and recorded, and the farmer receives a receipt of delivery.
2. The coffee is then placed in a receiving tank and pulped using a four-disc pulping machine to remove the skin and fruit from the inner parchment layer that protects the green coffee bean. After being pulped, the coffee is sorted by weight using water, with the highest quality and densest beans being separated out from the lighter, lower-quality beans.
3. The coffee is then dry fermented for 20–24 hours, to break down the sugars and remove the mucilage (sticky fruit covering) from the outside of the beans. Whilst the coffee is fermenting it is checked intermittently and when it is ready it is rinsed and removed from the tanks and placed in a washing channel.
4. This coffee was pulped using a four disk pulping machine to remove the skin and fruit from the bean.
5. The parchment-covered coffee is then washed with fresh water and sent through water channels for grading by weight. The heavier coffee, which sinks, is considered the higher quality, sweeter coffee, and any lighter density or lower grade coffee beans are removed. The beans are then sent to soaking tanks where they sit underwater for a further 48 hours. This process increases the proteins and amino acids, which in turn heightens the complexity of the acidity.
6. After soaking, the coffee is pumped onto deep drying beds where they drain for 1-2 hours, before being transferred to raised drying tables (also known as African beds). As they dry the parchment is turned constantly to ensure even drying, and so that any defective beans can be identified removed. Time on the drying tables depends on the weather, ambient temperature and processing volume: taking anywhere from one to three weeks to get to the target moisture of 11–12%. After drying the coffee is moved to conditioning beds, where it rests in parchment for about a month. This resting period helps to stabilise water activity and contributes to long-lasting quality and vibrancy in the cup.
Our coffee is treated with care
Meticulous Quality
We hope to provide our customers with the best and therefore pay close attention to all factors affecting the quality of our coffee. These include cultivar, growing altitude, climate, soil chemistry, harvesting and processing conditions, drying method, storage conditions, transportation, roasting conditions, grind size, brewing water and brewing recipes.
Highly Curated
Each one of our coffees is carefully selected by our roasting team. Before we buy in bulk, we go through many samples from different specialty coffee estates. Often times we are working with the most renowned coffee producers in the world.
Small Batch Roasting
All our coffee is roasted in our Roastery in Westbahnstraße 13, in Vienna. We roast small batches (10kg max) because we have better control over all the parameters that impact the flavour profile and can therefore better guarantee consistency.
Ethically Sourced
We ensure traceability for all our coffees. Our house Espresso from Nicaragua is directly traded without any middle-men and when we go through a wholesaler, complete transparency is a must. We want to provide our customers with the ability to know where their coffee comes from down to the name of each farmer.
