How to plan the grade of Kenyan coffee? how to handle Kenyan coffee? fine coffee beans

Kenyan coffee grade

Kenya is a well-known producer based on the size of coffee beans. Usually divided into nine grades, according to the bean type, there are PB, that is, round beans, accounting for about 10% of the total output, in addition to E (elephant beans), AA, AB, C, T, TT, MH, ML according to size.

Coffee related institutions in Kenya

KCPTA: Kenya Federation of Coffee producers and traders, Kenya Coffee Producers and Traders Association

CRF: Kenya Coffee Research Institute, Coffee Research Foundation

KCB: Kenya Coffee Exchange, Kenya Coffee Board

KCTA: Kenya Federation of Coffee traders, although the Kenya Coffee Traders Association coffee auction system has effectively raised the price of high-quality coffee, it is not without drawbacks. First, the existence of many trade middlemen has eroded the interests of coffee farmers, and the high prices obtained from the auction can not be fully fed back to the hard-working coffee farmers. Second, it is difficult to accurately trace the production information of the auctioned coffee. For the increasingly prosperous boutique coffee market. Traceability is an important criterion for the evaluation of raw coffee beans. Based on the above factors, the Kenyan government has begun to relax restrictions on direct trade in coffee. Agents certified by the state can sell coffee beans directly to customers such as foreign boutique coffee roasters. Direct trade can give farmers who produce high-quality coffee more incentives for Kenyan coffee auctions and direct trade.

Almost all Kenyan coffee is sold through the coffee exchange in Nairobi, the capital. Coffee auctions are held at coffee exchanges every Tuesday during the harvest season. Traders with trading qualifications will get raw bean samples in advance, and after the cup test, they will choose the raw beans they like. In the following auction, the highest bidder will get. Kenya's coffee auction system is considered to be the model for the popular COE tournament, and is considered to be the most transparent and efficient way of trading, which can effectively encourage growers to pursue quality and achieve the result of high quality and high price. Large farms usually have independent processing facilities. A large number of small farmers usually pick ripe coffee fruits by hand. Coffee picking is a labor-intensive job that requires the whole family to deploy and even hire workers during the harvest season. The fresh fruit of the picked coffee needs to be delivered in time to the cooperative-owned coffee processing plant for pulping, which may be carried by ox carts, pick-up trucks or trucks. After peeling, Parchment coffee is briefly kept in co-operative processing plants and sent to privately owned factories for shelling compared to shade planting in many high-quality producing areas. Kenyan coffee is obviously much more spicy and shade trees are not common. In addition, Kenyan coffee rarely participates in certification, variety and environmental factors make the use of pesticides necessary, and organic certification, which is popular in other countries, becomes rare in Kenya.

Kenyan coffee harvest season

There are two harvest seasons in Kenya, the main harvest season is from October to December and the secondary harvest season is from May to July.

Kenyan coffee processing in addition to the prestigious traditional Arabica coffee, robusta coffee is also produced in the western lowlands of Kenya.

Coffee cultivation in Kenya

Mainly by large farms (Estate) and cooperatives (Cooperatives) two types. The former generally has a large planting area and has independent coffee processing facilities. Most coffee production is done by a large number of small farmers, who form coffee cooperatives. The Coffee Cooperative Society hired special managers to supervise the coffee processing of its members, even so fine that the management of each coffee tree was first brought to Kenya to plant Bourbon bourbon. In the 1950s, the then agricultural research institution Scott Laboratory selected two excellent hybrids, SL-28 and SL-34, through unremitting efforts. It subverts the long-standing prejudice that artificial breeding is not superior to natural varieties. SL-28 and SL-34 help Kenyan coffee to form its own unique flavor characteristics and establish a perfect reputation in the coffee industry.

Like the choice of other coffee producing countries, although SL-28 and SL-34 have stood the test of time and cultivated generation after generation of faithful pumps for Kenyan coffee, the Kenyan government and the Coffee Research Institute (Coffee Research Foundation) have begun to promote a new variety, Ruiri 11, for the sake of coffee yield and disease resistance. The promoters assure coffee lovers that the new variety still has the classic flavor of Kenyan coffee. However, the continuous efforts did not win the recognition of coffee gluttons, who agreed that the taste of the new variety was lacking, and the prospect of Ruiru11 remains to be seen.