AA Gikirima #83, Kenya

The Gikirima washing station is provided coffee cherries from smallholders from the Embu region in central Kenya. Each of the smallholder farmers typically have 2-hectare farms which have around 300 trees. However, some of the community brings cherries harvested from their gardens.

The harvested cherries are hand sorted for ripeness by the farmers before they go into production. A 3-Disc Agaarde pulping machine removes the skin and pulp before the coffees are graded by density and separated into different lots for fermentation. The coffee is dry fermented for 18 to 36 hours depending on the weather. After fermentation, the coffees are again washed in channels and graded by density. The coffee is finally sun-dried on African drying beds for 10 to 20 days, being covered from the midday heat and at night.