The Finer Details

Kenya's Super Varietals

Gatomboya Factory is part of the Barichu Farmers Cooperative Society. Around 600 smallholders deliver their freshly harvested cherries to the station, with an average farm size of just 0.4 hectares. The Gatomboya Factory is known for the quality of its coffee, with meticulous quality control and processing. Farmers delivering to Gatomboya cultivate SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11 and Batian in small coffee gardens. ‘SL’ varieties are cultivars originally released by Scott Agricultural Laboratories (SAL) in the 1930s and 1940s. They soon became the go-to trees for many growers in Kenya due to their deep root structure, which allows them to maximise scarce water resources and flourish even without irrigation. They are cultivated with a serious eye to sustainability and Good Agricultural Practices, with minimal environmental impact where possible.

Smallholders selectively handpick ripe coffee cherries and deliver them to the Gatomboya Factory. At intake, the Cherry Clerk oversees meticulous visual sorting and floating, accepting only dense, ripe cherries. After collection, the coffee is pulped and fermented for 16 to 24 hours, then washed in clean water and soaked for 8 to 14 hours. The beans are then laid to dry on raised beds, covered during the hottest time of day, to maintain slow, even drying and at night, to shelter the delicate beans from moisture. Drying takes approximately 21 days.