• Producer: Ruarai Washing Station
• Region: Mukurweini, Nyeri
• Altitude: 1,800 MASL
• Variety: SL-28, SL-34, Riuru 11, Batian
• Grade: AA
• Harvest Method: Manually Picked
• Process: Washed
• Drying Time: Sun Dried on Raised Beds For 14 - 21 Days

Farm Info

Nestled between the Aberdares and the slopes of Mt. Kenya, Mukurweini is a fertile valley where rivers carve out green ridges of coffee, dairy farms, and homesteads. By mid-century, coffee had become the valley’s lifeblood. Smallholder farmers organized into cooperatives like Rumukia and Ruthaka, building washing stations (factories) that became gathering points for both livelihoods and local politics. Later, when global coffee prices wavered, the community diversified into dairy, founding Wakulima Dairy, today one of Kenya’s most successful farmer-owned enterprises.

Ruthaka FCS serves as a key economic driver in Mukurweini, operating multiple processing hubs including Ruarai, Mukui, Nduma, Kibutio, and Muthuthi-ini factories. It counts around 7,000 registered members, with roughly 4,000 actively delivering coffee, and at Muthuthi-ini alone, about 1,000 active members. Smallholders in the network typically own around 100 trees and cultivate half a hectare—bring their cherries to Ruthaka’s collection points.

Ruarai Washing Station functions as a key processing center under the Ruthaka Farmers' Cooperative Society, serving the coffee-growing communities of Mukurweini in Nyeri County. The station processes cherries from approximately 600 smallholder farmers, each cultivating on average 0.4 hectares. The station’s name, “Ruarai”, comes from the Kikuyu word for “place of rocks,” referencing the rocky river that feeds the washing station. This river provides pristine water used throughout the washing and fermentation process.

Processing

This specific lot was originally an experimental lot. Previously, the washing station had abandoned double fermentation as much of the training has highlighted double fermentation as one of the causes of overfermented flavours. From Peter Mberatures experience, double fermentation, when executed in the right way, helps improve the cup profile.

Before getting the coffee into the cherry hopper for pulping, Kamavindi started by floating the coffee. Floating entails putting the red cherries in a container filled with water, removing the floating cherries, and separating the dense cherries that remain underwater. The cherries that float are mainly the insect-damaged beans, overripe beans, diseased berries and cherries of lesser quality and grade. The floating also acts as a means of pre-washing the coffee, ensuring less dirt gets into the fermentation tanks. The pulping area should be spotless. No leftover beans should be seen anywhere in the pulping area, in the pulping machine, or in the fermentation tanks in order to reduce the risk of contamination.

Pulping starts later in the evening when the picking, sorting and floating work has been completed. After pulping, the coffee is thoroughly mixed to ensure uniform distribution of pulp that gets into the fermentation tanks. The coffee is also left leveled in the tanks with no beans stuck on the walls of the fermentation tanks. This allows for uniform fermentation. The coffee underwent 18 to 20 hours of dry fermentation followed by the intermediate washing. The coffee is then held for another 24 hours in the fermentation tanks before the final washing and grading. Once the coffee completes the washing phase, it is then placed on the raised drying beds to dry for 14 - 21 days.