Ngugu-ini

Producer: 1200 Smallholder Farmers 
Origin: Kirinyaga County, Kenya 
Elevation: 1650-1812 MASL
Variety: SL28, SL34
Process: Washed
Roast Level: Light
Importer: D&S Coffee
Flavor Notes: Red Currant, Plum, Black Cherry, Winey 

We are soo so so so soooo excited to introduce Enjoy's first Kenyan Drop ever?! How's that even possible?! IDK - it's a weird life, but here we are.

The way this coffee found its way to us is such an awesome story.  We're deep into a  roast day and in walks a gentleman named Simon Mwaura with a little info packet.  He comes over to the roast room and introduces himself and that he has 3 lots of fresh crop Kenyan coffee from his company on hand after just relocating to the North East from Kenya.  I let him know Kenya has been a tougher market for us and that I was so excited at the prospect of working together. We exchange info and brew him a cup while he's onsite and a couple days later the green samples arrive.

We take a look at the green, sample roast them up, and cup.  We were so excited with this AA lot of SL varieties and even more hyped about how this coffee found us.  We hit up Simon and let him know this lot was a go and he showed up the next day with all the green loaded in his truck and shared that this was his first sale.  

We're really honored and excited to put this coffee out and can't wait to see this relationship continue to grow.  Ight, here's the info on Ngugu-ini! 

As told by D&S: Nguguini (often written Ngugu-ini) is a well- known coffee washing station, or “factory, established in 1958 and draws coffee from approximately 1,200 smallholder farmers. While often associated with Nyeri due to its proximity, Ngugu-ini Factory is actually situated in Kirinyaga County, Central Kenya near the town of Karatina. It is part of the Kibirigwi Farmers’ Cooperative Society, one of the region’s oldest and largest coffee cooperatives. 

Kibirigwi FCS was registered in 1958 making it one of the oldest and most established in the region. It has more than 7,000 smallholder farmer members combined, with Ngugu-ini itself serving around 1,200 of those members who each farm very small coffee plots, usually under 1 hectare.

The Ngugu-ini factory, a vital wet mill, transforms freshly harvested cherries into high-quality coffee. Here, cherries are pulped, fermented, and dried, ensuring the preservation of origin flavors.

This lot of Ngugu-ini feels like such a quintessential representation of one of our favorite cup profiles we tend to find from SL variety lots.  Vibrant red fruit qualities, a juicy mouthfeel, present acidity and just a big cup.  

In the cup, you can expect a tart red note a la red currants which is accompanied by a juicy plum-like sweetness.  Black cherry and red wine qualities with a coating a weighted body round this awesome cup out.  First of hopefully many coffees from Simon and D&S, woo!