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Karinga Espresso

US$18.43

A classic Kenyan coffee with a distinct and intense fruity flavour and a refreshing acidity. Expect intense notes of blackcurrants and rose hips with delicate floral aromas.

Additional information

Weight	.311 kg
Dimensions	23 × 15 × 7.5 cm
Cultivar	SL28 & SL34
Flavour Notes	Floral, blackcurrants & rose hips
Producer	Several smallholders farmers
Country	Kenya
Region	Kiambu
Process	Washed
Harvest	December 2022
Roast Profile	Espresso Roast
Contents	Whole Coffee Beans
Bag Size	250g

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This coffee is grown at around 1900 masl in Kiambu where the climate is cool and makes the coffee ripen slower and develop more flavour, sweetness and acidity.

Most of the members who sell their coffee cherries to this wet mill grow mainly the SL28 cultivar (with some growing SL34) because of good yields and exceptional quality in high altitudes. The majority of the farmers in this area have therefore been reluctant to plant the newer rust tolerant hybrids Batian and Ruiru 11 which are becoming more common in lower altitudes in Kenya.

For me this coffee has been a standout for several years when I have been tasting coffees in Kenya because of its intensity of flavour. It has a crisp acidity and an intense fruity and floral character that makes it both intense and elegant at the same time.

SL28 is one of the most popular cultivars grown in Kenya because of its high yields and superior quality in the cup. It is no secret that I love this fruity cultivar that at its best taste like black currant juice, rhubarb or rose hip tea. SL28 was a selection made by the Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the 1930’s and along with the SL34 cultivar it is the most commonly grown cultivar in Kenya and an important reason why everyone thinks about fruity coffees when they speak of Kenyan coffees.

KARINGA PRODUCTION PROCESS

Picking and sorting

The coffee cherries are typically hand picked by the farmers and their family members. After delivering the coffee cherries to the wet mill the good coffee cherries are separated from the inferior ones by hand sorting and they are delivered in separate cherry hoppers.

Depupling, fermenting & washing

The cherries are depulped and graded by using an old Aagard disc de-pulper that uses water and gravity to sort dense beans from less dense beans. Coffee of different grades are moved to separate fermentation tanks where the parchment coffee, with it’s mucilage still on, is dry fermented for about 12-36 hours over night. After fermentation the coffee is washed in clean water and graded once again by gravity. The more dense beans are dried separately from the beans with lower density and inferior quality.

Drying

The coffees are dried on elevated drying tables, where defect parchment coffee gets sorted out by hand. Drying the coffee takes about 10 – 14 days. During daytime the coffees are raked to ensure even drying. The drying tables are covered during the hottest times of the day to avoid over heating and also at night time to prevent condensation. The drying process is finished when the moisture content in the coffee beans is between 10-12%. After drying, the coffees are stored in conditioning bins before delivery to the dry mill. The coffees we buy from Kenya are always vacuum packed before they are shipped to Norway.

FILTER

We strongly recommend using the correct measurements and brewing techniques when you brew our coffees. Use a digital scale both to measure water and coffee in order to get consistent results, and we recommend using between 60 to 70 grams of coffee per litre (1000g) of water, depending on the brewing method, water quality and coffee used.

ESPRESSO

We strongly recommend using VST filter baskets. Both the 18g, 20g and the 22g basket is great for our coffee. The VST filters makes it a lot easier to extract the espresso properly which gives a lot more sweetness in the cup. They are also more or less identical to each other which makes it easy to be more consistent when brewing on several groups at the same time. You can buy the filters on our webshop, just make sure they fit your machine (ours fits all La Marzocco machines and machines with 58mm filter baskets). With the VST 18g filter basket, we recommend the following brewing parameters: 18-19g freshly-ground coffee, 25-35s brewing time, 35-38g of final brew liquid in the cup, 93°C-94°C brew water temperature.

Karinga

Karinga is one of four wet mills (factories) belonging to the Gitwe farmers cooperative society. It is located in Kiambu, less than a two hour drive from Nairobi in central-Kenya. Like most of the 900 nearby farms that are supplying the wet mill with coffee cherries, the wet mill is situated at around 1900 meters above sealevel which is quite high in comparison to other factories in Nyeri, Embu ,etc. The high altitude means the coffee will ripen slower and develop more flavour as temperatures are lower in the highlands. It also means that the trees are less affected by leaf rust and other pests ( although in recent years it is not uncommon to see more pests and diseases in higher altitudes as well.)

This is the reason why a lot of the members of the cooperative are still growing the traditional SL28 and SL34 cultivars and have not swapped to the modern hybrids that are more tolerant to disease. The Gitwe cooperative employs their own agronomist which along with agronomists from marketing managers assist the farmers with know-how and advice throughout the growing season. It means the famrmers are able to take good care of their coffee trees so that they are less affected by disease and can produce high yields of good quality coffee year after year. This is for sure an important reason why Karinga and the Gitwe cooperative have won several awards for their quality over the years.

Transparency

The farmers sell coffee cherries to the wet mills and deliver cherries several times during a harvest. The farmers are paid a price based on all the coffees they sold to the cooperative that year. The wet mill will process and dry the coffees before they get sent to the local mill for storage. Therefore, the cooperative by law charges no more than 20% of the selling price of the coffee. Most of the wet mills we buy from in Kenya publish the prices they paid for their coffees on their notice boards for the farmers to see and everything is recorded in their accounting. However, I still know that we can get better at providing transparency in Kenya and I really hope to step up our buying protocols and find more long term partners in Kenya in the years to come. All coffees are imported directly to Norway by ourselves.

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Karinga Espresso

Additional information

KARINGA PRODUCTION PROCESS

Picking and sorting

Depupling, fermenting & washing

Drying

FILTER

ESPRESSO

Karinga

Transparency

See the mill on Google Maps

Brew Guides

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Karinga Espresso

Additional information

Karinga

Transparency

See the mill on Google Maps

Brew Guides

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