Kiawamururu

Description

Kiawamururu Coffee Factory is part of the Rumukia Farmers’ Cooperative Society in Mukurwe-ini, Nyeri County, serving about 1,000 smallholder farmers. The factory sits at 1,700–1,850 meters above sea level, on the fertile, red volcanic soils characteristic of Kenya’s central highlands.

The Rumukia Cooperative provides agronomy training, promotes soil conservation, and runs an education fund for members’ children. Tree-planting and water management initiatives support long-term environmental resilience.

Natural processing at Kiawamururu Washing Station follows the traditional Ethiopian-style dry process, adapted to Kenya's climate and quality standards. Since Kenyan factories are primarily built for washed coffees, natural lots are produced in small volumes with careful selection and monitoring.

Only fully ripe, deep-red cherries are hand-picked by smallholder farmers. At the washing station, cherries are hand-sorted. Some producers also use flotation tanks—healthy, dense cherries sink, while low-density "floaters" are removed. Cherries are then dried on raised African beds for 20-30 days (depending on weather) until moisture content is at 10-12%. During drying cherries are turned multiple times per day, covered during the hottest hours of the day and protected from rain via plastic sheets to avoid increases in moisture. Once dried, cherries are stored in warehouses giving time to stabilize before milling. The beans are then mechanically removed from cherry, cleaned, sorted by size and density and finally hand sorted once again.

Text from Dayglow's listing.