KENYA AA Top Kii LAVE

🫐 Kenya – AA Top Kii
Blackcurrant and tomato, the brilliance of Mount Kenya’s great washed coffees.

Technical sheet

• Country: Kenya
• Region: Ngariama, Kirinyaga County, Central Province
• Washing station: Kii Coffee Factory (850 members)
• Altitude: 1,300 – 1,900 m
• Varieties: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, Batian
• Process: Washed, fermented in cement tanks
• Drying: sun-dried on raised beds
• Harvest: 2025/26, hand-picked
• Screen size: AA (95% 18+)
• SCA score: 86.5
• Tasting notes: Blackcurrant / Tomato
• Roast profile: Light

The terroir
Kii Factory is one of three washing stations run by the Rungeto cooperative, which has over 850 members. Built in 1995 at the foot of Mount Kenya, it takes its name from the Kii River, which flows nearby and provides clean water for washing. The coffee grows between 1,300 and 1,900 metres, on red volcanic soils, with 1,200 to 1,600 mm of rain a year and temperatures of 18 to 25 °C.

What I like here is the care taken at every step. Smallholders hand-pick only ripe cherries, and on arrival the Cherry Clerk sorts everything by eye, keeping only dense, ripe cherries. The processing water is even filtered through earthen pits before returning to local waterways.

The process
The cherries are pulped, then ferment for 16 to 24 hours in tanks, depending on the ambient temperature. The coffee is then washed in river water and soaked for 12 hours. The parchment dries for about 14 days on raised beds: it is raked regularly and covered during the hottest hours and at night, for slow, even drying.

In the cup
Blackcurrant and tomato, with the clarity of a great Kenyan washed coffee.