KAROGOTO AB

Karogoto lies in Nyeri County on the southern slopes of Mount Kenya, a landscape celebrated for producing some of the country’s most vibrant and distinctive coffees. The washing station sits close to the town of Karatina, surrounded by cool mountain air, plentiful rainfall and deep red volcanic soils rich in the nutrients coffee trees need to flourish.

The station belongs to the Tekangu Farmers’ Cooperative Society. The cooperative’s name brings together its three original washing stations: Tegu, Karogoto and Ngunguru. More than 900 smallholder farmers deliver freshly picked cherries to Karogoto, while the wider cooperative represents over 1,700 members.

Most of these producers cultivate small family farms averaging around half a hectare. At elevations between 1,700 and 1,800 metres, the cooler growing conditions encourage the coffee cherries to mature slowly, developing greater sweetness and a lively fruit character.

Farmers grow a combination of Kenya’s celebrated SL28 and SL34 varieties alongside Ruiru 11 and Batian, which were developed to offer greater resistance to coffee diseases. The main harvest takes place between November and January, when ripe cherries are selectively picked by hand and delivered to the washing station.

On arrival, the cherries are carefully sorted so that underripe fruit and foreign material can be removed. The selected cherries are then pulped, graded and placed into tanks for a controlled fermentation. This breaks down the sticky fruit mucilage surrounding the beans and helps create the exceptional clarity associated with carefully washed Kenyan coffees.

After fermentation, the parchment is thoroughly washed and spread across raised drying beds. It is regularly turned and carefully monitored as it dries in the sun, allowing moisture to leave the coffee slowly and evenly.

Every stage is focused on protecting the quality created on the farms - from selective harvesting and meticulous sorting to fermentation and drying. The cooperative provides its members with a dependable route to market while rewarding the care required to produce exceptional coffee.

The result is a wonderfully expressive cup filled with the sweetness of apricot jam and brown sugar, finishing with smooth, comforting milk chocolate.