Muthingini Coffee Factory, located in the Kirinyaga District near Kianyaga town, is run by Cyrus Nyamu. It was established almost 50 years ago and sits on seven acres of land, processing coffee from the farmers of four nearby villages. The Factory is run by Rwama Farmers Co-operative Society, made up of 1,560 local farming families, including 1,000 actively farming.
The factory is receiving assistance from our partner Coffee Management Services whose long-term goal is to increase quality coffee production in Kenya through farmer training, input access, Good Agricultural Practice seminars, and a sustainable farming handbook updated and distributed annually. They share our goal of transparent, trust based relationships with farmers, helping to support a sustained industry growth in Kenya, bringing premium quality to you brewing coffee at home, and premium prices to the farmers.
After picking, ripe cherry is brought to the factory before it undergoes processing to remove the skin and pulp – known as the wet processing method. Wastewater is discarded in soaking pits, and is also recirculated for conservation. The factory is using a disc pulper with three sets of discs to remove the skin and fruit from the inner parchment layer that is protecting the green coffee bean.
After pulping, the coffee is fermented overnight to break down the sugars, before it is cleaned, soaked and spread out on the raised drying tables.
Time on the drying tables depends on climate, ambient temperature and volumes under processing, and can take from 7–15 days in total.
