Gikirima

About

Gikirima factory is affiliated to Kibugu Farmers Co-operative society. It is located in one of Kenya’s great coffee-growing regions, Embu County. There are now 1,100 active members of the Gikirima factory and members each have on average around 1 hectare of land for coffee growing alongside tea, macadamia, beans, banana and maize. After picking, ripe cherry is brought to the factory by smallholder farmers, before it undergoes processing to remove the skin and pulp – known as the wet processing method. The factory is currently using a disc pulper 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, traveling through channels to the soaking tank the coffee is carefully cleaned, soaked and spread out on the raised drying tables. Time on the drying tables depends on climate, ambient temperature and total production volume undergoing processing. Drying can take from 7 to 15 days in total. Frequent turning and sorting will happen during the drying stage. Wastewater is managed through the use of soaking pits. The water used for processing the cherry spend time in the pits to ensure that the nutrient rich water created during depulping will not be returned to the nearby water source without proper treatment. This additional step cuts down the risk of contamination, after adequate time for reabsorption the water is recirculated. Currently, Gikirima has five pits for this process.

The farm in detail

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Macadamia trees

K
Kenya
Farm

Gikirima

About

The farm in detail

Coffees of this farm

Gikirima

About

The farm in detail

Coffees .css-onkibi{width:1em;height:1em;display:inline-block;line-height:1em;-webkit-flex-shrink:0;-ms-flex-negative:0;flex-shrink:0;color:currentColor;vertical-align:middle;} of this farm

Coffees of this farm