The geographical advantages of growing coffee in Kenya and the washing technology of Kenyan coffee

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Kenya's Geographical Advantages in Growing Coffee

Despite Kenya's border with Ethiopia in the north, Kenya's coffee industry started late.

In the 19th century, Arabs planted coffee on a small scale, but there was a serious bloody conflict with Kenyans. In 1893 European missionaries introduced coffee trees from the French island of Bourbon, and in 1905 Britain began growing coffee on a large scale in Kenya, producing more than 12 tons a year in the 1980s. However, in recent years, excessive reclamation of forest land has led to a decline in production, ranging from about 40,000 to 90,000 tons, but it is still the second largest Arab country in Africa (the seventeenth largest producer in the world). Although Kenya borders Ethiopia, the varieties, beans and flavors are obviously different. Kenyan beans are all washed, the beans are fat and full, and the rich berry fragrance is most appreciated by coffee fans. There are also dark plum juice and grapefruit acid aroma, as well as sugar cane sweet aroma, which is the most typical flavor of Kenya beans, coffee lovers have been chasing the high-end beans.

Elevation, geology, latitude, processing methods and varieties have made Kenya coffee a heavyweight in the boutique world.

Altitude, latitude and geology: the equator runs through it, and its border is exactly within ten degrees of north and south latitude. It belongs to tropical producing areas. There are two rainy seasons every year, and two harvests can be harvested. ω% is concentrated in October to December, and the other % is in June to August. Coffee is mainly grown in the volcanic land with an altitude of 1, ω0~2, 100 meters around the Kenyan mountains from Nairobi, the capital. This fertile crescent coffee area is the main producing area of Kenya's fine beans. Elgon, on the western border with Torikanda, also produces good beans.

Kenya Coffee Washing Technology

Kenya coffee's unique blackberry acid aroma comes from 'sL28' and 'sL 34', and the exquisite washing technology is also due to no small part. Central and South American beans rarely ferment in washing tanks for more than 36 hours, but Kenya's washing time is as long as 72 hours. After 30 to 48 hours of fermentation, coffee pods are removed from the washing tank, the pectin layer on the surface has been removed, and a further 24 hours of soaking in clean water is required. This additional fermentation process should be related to the bright and clean flavor of Kenya beans. Kenya is also very particular about the final drying process, the pods are placed on a special rack to dry. Because it is off the ground and the pods are placed on the net, it helps ventilation, moisture and uniform drying, so it is not easy to absorb the earth smell, impurity smell and moisture on the ground. This design is known as the "Kenyan net bed", far more conducive to quality than Central and South America or Asia, where the pods are left to dry on concrete, straw mats or boards.

Sixty per cent of kenyan coffee is produced by individual farmers and sold to local coffee cooperatives, which co-ordinate the sending of samples to foreign buyers and bid through auctions. Good beans sell at a high price, which seems reasonable, but individual farmers are still exploited. Even if they sell at a high price, they will not enter the pockets of individual farmers and will all be earned by cooperatives. no wonder individual farmers are increasingly turning away from sL28, which has good flavor but poor resistance to disease, and are instead planting high-yield rui-ruiu hybrids.

In recent years, the dispute between Kenyan farmers and cooperatives has become increasingly serious, and the government has also considered setting up a second channel for buyers to contact coffee farmers directly, which is a great encouragement to individual farmers who plant carefully, but this strategy has not been implemented due to opposition from vested interests. If Kenya does not develop a reasonable coffee trading system for coffee farmers, there will be no production of high quality 'sL28' and 'sL34' coffee.