Kii AA – Kenya

The Kii Factory (wet mill) is one of three wet mills of the Rungeto Cooperative Society in Kirinyaga in Central Kenya. We have been buying coffee from the Rungeto Farmers Cooperative since 2016. The Factory is Fairtradecertified.

The Chairman of this society has implemented various quality-focused processes throughout all the factories of the Rungeto FCS. For example, he installed tiles on all the washing channels and fermentation tanks. Moreover, the water for the processing is being reused.

After the liquidation of the famous Ngiriama co-operative society, the Kiangoi, Karimikui and Kii factories joined to form the Rungeto Farmers' Cooperative Society.

The farmer members are all located on the slopes of Mount Kenya which, together with the neighbouring region Nyeri, is known for its intense, complex, and flavour-dense coffees. The Kii factory is located at a good altitude, in an area where they do more tea than coffee. It's under the greater Rungeto Farmers Cooperative Society, which has other great performing factories like Kinagoi and Karimikui.

Once the ripe cherries are pulped, the parchment is fermented for 12 hours. It is then washed in the washing channels and separated per density. After separation, the parchment is spread out on the drying tables for around 14 days.