The Thiriku FCS has only one factory called Thiriku. It was registered in the year 2000, after splitting from a larger union. The factory is located in the heart of Nyeri county, just at the foot of the Aberdares mountain range. The first step is for the farmers to sort their cherries. Only after the cherries are checked, the farmers receive a ticket which is needed in order to deliver.

The ripe ones are processed separately from the ones sorted out. For the pulping, Thiriku uses a Penagos pulper. Once the parchment is fermented it is separated into P1, P2, P3 and P lights and dried for 10-16 days. The factory has 136 drying tables, from which 10 are metallic. For processing, a Penagos ecopulper is being used. It uses less water than conventional pulpers, which is more cost effective for the factory and also more environmentally friendly.

About the Washing Station

Coffee industry in Kenya has been experiencing some turmoil in the recent years: farmers have been disappointed by very low profits and corruption among cooperative managements officials, and the productivity of cultivation has been decreasing.
Farmers in the area where Thiriku washing station is now located started replacing coffee with other lucrative crops for these and possibly other reasons. However, once the dynamics in the co-op society shifted with the entry of a new importer, many farmers revived coffee cultivation thanks to the promise of stable baseline income each season. In exchange, the farmers have committed to producing the coffee of highest quality and improving their agricultural practices in close cooperation with the local agronomist, Bernard Gichimu. It is thanks to these improved cooperation between the farmers and the cooperative that Thiriku has become a special washing station, consistently producing some of the best tasting lots in the country.

SL28 and SL 34 wwere bred by Scott Laboratories in 1931 from Tanganyika D.R. It has become very popular throughout Kenya and are recognised as a variety of exceptional cup quality. It has wide leaves with coppery tips, and the beans are wide. At the same time, the productivity of SL 28 and SL34 are comparatively low. Though there is insufficient proof, some sources claim that Scott Labs crossed mutations of French Mission, Mocha and Yemen Typica to produce SL 28 and SL 34. Whatever the exact genetic composition, their original goal almost certainly was to create a plant with high quality, reasonable productivity and great drought resistance.

About the Process

Washed coffees showcase solely the bean. They let you taste you what’s on the inside, not the outside. Washed coffees depend almost entirely on the bean having absorbed enough natural sugars and nutrients during its growing cycle. This means the varietal, soil, weather, ripeness, fermentation, washing, and drying are absolutely key.

Washed coffees reflect both the science of growing the perfect coffee bean and the fact that farmers are an integral part of crafting the taste of a coffee bean. When looking at washed coffees, it becomes apparent that the country of origin and environmental conditions play a vital role in adding to the flavour.

Kenyan coffees are most often processed using a method called ‘double fermentation’, which is a variation of the washed processing method. Almost all producers across Kenya use this method, considered the best practice by many. In the double fermentation processing method, farmers depulp the cherries immediately after harvest and place the mucilage-coated seeds in fermentation tanks, keeping the contact with water at the minimum, for 12 to 24 hours depending on the rate of fermentation. The fermentation helps break down the mucilage, making it easier to remove, but also helps develop the mucilage’s latent fruit properties, imparting some of those properties into the coffee seed.