ALCHEMY IN THE SUBYEAR, Kenya

The Thageini wet mill is one of four mills operated by the Aguthi Farmer’s C Society. It is the s mill in terms of member producers, with around 350 men and 100 women members, and the Aguthi Farmer’s Co-operative Society has around 2000 members total. The Society provides training for its members on techniques for farm management, picking, sorting and agronomic techniques. They hold workshops for members to meet and learn from each other and provide specific advice to producers on their farm where possible.

The Aguthi Farmer’s Co-operative Society demonstrates values that align with ours: Quality, Sustainability and Community, through their focus on community development and the improvement of their members’ coffees. Project Origin and this Society have worked together since 2017 to further implement these values to bring you another wonderful taste of Kenya.

Picked cherries are delivered to the wet mill where the farmer's hand sorts based on colour. Cherries are then separated by ripeness, de-pulped and fermented. Following this, they are then thoroughly washed in channels before drying on raised beds until moisture content is reduced to 10-12%. Drying typically takes 14 - 21 days.

The coffee is then delivered to the dry mill and stored in parchment for protection until ready for dry milling. During dry milling, beans are separated by machine based on size with AA grade coffees being made up of beans screen size 18.