Rianjagi COOP AA WASHED

Producer: Rianjagi Co-operative Society

Bag Size: 60 KG

Region: Embu County, Central Kenya

Altitude: 1,650 MASL

Variety: SL-28, SL-34, Riuru 11

Grade: AA

Harvest Method: Manually Picked

Process: Washed

Drying Time: Sun Dried on Raised Beds For 12 Days

summary

One of this years top Kenya washed lots comes from the Rianjagi Co-operative Society. Built in 1976, Rianjagi Factory and Rianjagi Farmers’ Cooperative Society (FCS) is owned by the farmers. Rianjagi elects five members to its board, and a total of eight permanent staff. The board members must be active farmers and are re-elected every three years, to avoid corruption. The co-op supports its farmer members by offering pre-harvest financing, allowing them to plan and invest in the upcoming crop. They also buy inputs in bulk and distribute them to members at a lower cost than otherwise possible. The Rianjagi Farmers Cooperative is located just north of the town of Mutunduri in Embu Country Kenya. Here on the slopes of the famous the Mt. Kenya, members of the cooperative with small estates, harvest their coffee cherries, and turn it in to the Rianjagi site for processing.

This area of Embu is famous for its coffee quality, with some of the best estates and cooperatives in Kenya within a short distance of the Rianjagi site. Over the last few years Rianjagi has become a standout coffee producer with many top quality roasters purchasing their top lots. Many of the producers in the region are second-generation landholders, whose parents purchased and planted the land in the 1950s and 1960s, after agricultural reform allowed for small Kenyan farmers to produce cash crops on their family farms (instead of only on large, British owned estates). Farmers in Embu grow coffee as a cash crop alongside food crops like banana, maize, macadamia, avocados and vegetables. Tea and dairy are also important sources of income for the producers.

PROCESSING

All the coffee cherry is hand-picked and delivered on the same day to the washing station, where it undergoes meticulous sorting. This is also done by hand and is overseen by a ‘cherry clerk’ who ensures any unripe and damaged cherries are removed. The ripe cherry is then weighed and recorded, and the farmer receives a receipt of delivery.

The coffee is then placed in a receiving tank and ripe cherry is selected, pulped and fermented for 24-26 hours. The cherry is pulped using a four-disc pulping machine to remove the skin and fruit from the inner parchment layer that protects the green coffee bean. After being pulped, the coffee is sorted by weight using water, with the highest quality and densest beans being separated out from the lighter, lower-quality beans. The coffee is then moved to raised drying beds to complete the drying process and is dried for 7 - 12 days in the sunlight where it is raked and rotated routinely almost every few hours daily.

Embu, Kenya

The municipality of Embu is a major commercial trading center on the southeastern foothills of Mount Kenya. Its slogan, in fact, is "the Land of Opportunities." Agriculture is the backbone and livelihood of the people of Embu County. The high altitude of Embu (1,350+ m.a.s.l.) makes it conducive to coffee cultivation, as well as athletic endurance training - even hosting a training facility called Kigari Teachers' Training College. The municipality is lush with blooming purple jacaranda trees each October-November. The upper part of Embu County relies mainly on cash crops such as coffee and tea while the lower part mainly produces cash crops such as miraa(khat) and food crops such as maize, beans, cow peas, bananas, sorghum, tomatoes, pawpaw, avocado and citrus fruits.

VARIETIES

SL 28

SL28 is among the most well-known and well-regarded varieties of Africa. It has consequently spread from Kenya, where it was originally selected in the 1930s, to other parts of Africa (it is important in Arabica-growing regions of Uganda, in particular) and now to Latin America. The variety is suited for medium to high altitudes and shows resistance to drought, but is susceptible to the major diseases of coffee. SL28 is notable for its rusticity—a quality meaning that it can be left untended for years or even decades at a time, and then return to successful production. There are SL28 trees in many parts of Kenya that are 60-80 years old and still productive. According to historical documents, he noticed a variety growing in the Moduli district that appeared to be tolerant to drought, diseases and pests. Seed was collected and brought back to Scott Laboratories, where its drought resistance was confirmed. It was widely distributed until superseded by its progeny, SL28. SL28 was considered the prize selection of this period of intensive breeding.

SL 34

The genetic description of SL34 belongs to the Bourbon-Typica Group. SL34 was originally created in Kenya during the late 1930s at the Scott Agricultural Laboratories. Individual tree selections made at the Scott Laboratories during the 1935-1939 period were prefixed SL. Fourty-two trees of various origins were selected and studied for yield, quality, and drought and disease resistance. Individual tree selections made at the Scott Laboratories in Kenya during the 1935-1939 period were prefixed “SL.” SL34 was selected from a single tree on the Loresho Estate in Kabete, Kenya since research at the Scott Laboratories was often conducted in cooperation with local, private estate owners. The tree was labeled “French Mission.”

RUIRU 11

Ruiru 11 is a compact, high yielding variety developed in Kenya to allow for more intensive coffee production with fewer losses from diseases and pests. Ruiru 11 owes its existence to a coffee berry disease (CBD) epidemic in 1968 that lead to the loss of 50% of Kenya’s production. The crisis sparked action. In the 1970s, the coffee research station at Ruiru, which gives Ruiru 11 its name, began an intensive breeding program for varieties that were immune to CBD. This led to the development of Ruiru 11, which was released in 1985. Breeders were focused on creating a compact variety suited to intensive planting, but one that had the high cup quality characteristic of the tall varieties predominant in Africa. Breeders spend many years crossing multiple progenitors to create what breeders call a complex hybrid that would gather the best attributes each of the chosen progenitors. This work resulted in the creation the male parent of Ruiru. The chosen progenitors of Ruiru 11’s complex hybrid male parent conferred resistance to CBD (coming from Rume Sudan, Timor Hybrid lines, and K7) and good cup quality (coming from N39, SL28, SL34 and Bourbon).