Producer: Riakiberu Coffee Factory
Farm: Kamacharia Farmers Cooperative Society
Region: Central Province, Murang'a County
Altitude: 1,650 masl | 5,413 feet
Varietal: Peaberries of SL28, Ruiru 11, Batian
Process: Washed
Roast: Light-Medium
Notes: Candied Lemon Peel, Chamomile, Papaya

Riakiberu Coffee Factory was established in 1994, a year after Kamacharia Farmers Cooperative Society was registered. It currently has 1,542 active members.

Kamacharia Farmers Cooperative Society maximizes production by following trainings in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), with application of manure and inputs when required. The society is made up of smallholders growing mainly SL28, with a small amount of Batian and Ruiru 11 varieties. This area has two harvests: one from March to May, and the main harvest season from October to December.

Once the beans have been pulped, they are put into fermentation tanks for 12-24 hours depending on temperature (though farmers are now experimenting with fermentation time to develop different flavor profiles).

Fermentation breaks down the sticky mucilage, leaving the beans in their parchment ready to be washed. After washing, the parchment coffee is taken to raised beds where they are dried and gently turned for a period of 10-22 days. A slower drying time contributes to greater balance and complexity in the cup.

Peaberries are the result of a natural mutation in which only one seed within the coffee cherry is fertilized. Instead of two coffee beans with flat faces and round backs within the cherry, a single rounded bean is the result.

Peaberries constitute a small percentage of each harvest and they are typically sorted into peaberry-only lots for consistency during the roasting process, as they are denser than regular coffee beans.