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SOLD OUT
Gachatha
US$15.95
This Kenyan coffee from the Gachatha wet mill has a very distinct and intense fruity flavour with a refreshing acidity. Expect ripe fruity notes of mango, hibiscus and blackcurrants.
Additional information
| Weight | .311 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 15 × 7.5 × 23 cm |
| Cultivar | |
| Flavour Notes | |
| Producer | |
| Country | Kenya |
| Region | Nyeri |
| Process | Washed |
| Harvest | |
| Roast Profile | |
| Bag Size | 250g |
| Contents | Whole Coffee Beans |
Out of stock
The coffees from the Gachatha wet mill has consistently been among the best coffees I have tasted in Kenya over many years and because they produce such consistent high quality there is a big demand for these coffees. In my opinion the quality of the Kenyan coffees I tasted during my visit in February was really high and probably the best coffee year in recent times in Kenya. The coffees from Gachatha were no exceptions and I ended up buying two lots from Gachatha this year. Both lots were really outstanding in quality with complex ripe fruit flavours like mango and purple berries.
I have visited the Gachatha wet mill several times and been amazed by how much training the cooperative gives to their farmers. They have their own demonstratiopn plot at the wet mill where they can train their members in good agricultural practices and they also grow seedlings of both coffee trees and shade trees that are distributed to their members.
Although most members are still growing the traditional SL28 and SL34 cultivars, we know that they have been planting the new hybrid cultivars Ruiru 11 and a lot of Batian in the recent years. Still the coffee from Gachatha has the recognisable intense fruity flavours that I think of when I dream about delicious Kenyan coffees.
ABOUT THE CULTIVARS
This coffee is produced by several hundred farmers, most of them growing the famous Kenyan SL28 and SL34 cultivars. While some have planted newer hybrids like Ruiru 11 and Batian you can clearly taste the clean and fruity flavours in this coffee that are so common for the SL cultivars.
GACHATHA PRODUCTION PROCESS
Picking and sorting
The coffee cherries are typically hand picked by the farmers and their family members. After delivering the coffee cherries to the wet mill the good coffee cherries are separated from the inferior ones by hand sorting and they are delivered in separate cherry hoppers.
Depupling, fermenting & washing
The cherries are depulped and graded by using an old Aagard disc de-pulper that uses water and gravity to sort dense beans from less dense beans. Coffee of different grades are moved to separate fermentation tanks where the parchment coffee, with it’s mucilage still on, is dry fermented for about 12-16 hours over night. After fermentation the coffee is washed in clean water and graded once again by gravity. The more dense beans are dried separately from the beans with lower density and inferior quality.
Drying
The coffees are dried on elevated drying tables, where defect parchment coffee gets sorted out by hand. Drying the coffee takes about 10 – 14 days. During daytime the coffees are raked to ensure even drying. The drying tables are covered during the hottest times of the day to avoid over heating and also at night time to prevent condensation. The drying process is finished when the moisture content in the coffee beans is between 10-12%. After drying, the coffees are stored in conditioning bins before delivery to the dry mill. The coffees we buy from Kenya are always vacuum packed before it is shipped to Norway.
FILTER
We strongly recommend using the correct measurements and brewing techniques when you brew our coffees. Use a digital scale both to measure water and coffee in order to get consistent results, and we recommend using between 60 to 70 grams of coffee per litre (1000g) of water, depending on the brewing method, water quality and coffee used.
ESPRESSO
We strongly recommend using VST filter baskets. Both the 18g, 20g and the 22g basket is great for our coffee. The VST filters makes it a lot easier to extract the espresso properly which gives a lot more sweetness in the cup. They are also more or less identical to each other which makes it easy to be more consistent when brewing on several groups at the same time. You can buy the filters on our webshop, just make sure they fit your machine (ours fits all La Marzocco machines and machines with 58mm filter baskets). With the VST 18g filter basket, we recommend the following brewing parameters: 18-19g freshly-ground coffee, 25-35s brewing time, 35-38g of final brew liquid in the cup, 93°C-94°C brew water temperature.
Gachatha
Gachatha is a small cooperative with only one wet mill located in Nyeri. The around 1000 members are all smallholder farmers cultivating on average around 150 coffee trees each. The Nyeri area is famous for producing some of the best coffees in Kenya and therefore some of the best coffees in the world. The green lush environment with a climate that is always cool at night followed by warm days. This gives really good growing conditions for the coffee and paired with the old SL28 and SL34 cultivars that most of the farmers are cultivating you get an intense and fruity cup of coffee with the classic black currant flavour that is so unique for these coffees.
Transparency
The farmers sell coffee cherries to the wet mills and deliver cherries several times during a harvest. The farmers are paid a price based on all the coffees they sold to the cooperative that year. The wet mill will process and dry the coffees before they get sent to the local mill for storage. Therefore, the cooperative by law charges no more than 20% of the selling price of the coffee. Most of the wet mills we buy from in Kenya publish the prices they paid for their coffees on their notice boards for the farmers to see and everything is recorded in their accounting. However, I still know that we can get better at providing transparency in Kenya and I really hope to step up our buying protocols and find more long term partners in Kenya in the years to come. All coffees are imported directly to Norway by ourselves.
See the mill on Google Maps
Brew Guides
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