ONA - Thageini AB Lot 1424 | Kenya - CM (Carbonic Maceration) Washed - SL28, SL34

ONA Coffee is located in Canberra, Australia

From ONA Coffee

This Carbonic Maceration (Washed) lot of SL-varieties is clean, sweet and complex. Notes of fresh peach are accompanied by a sweet lemonade flavour, with an undertone of jasmine florals throughout the coffee as it cools.

This particular lot of SL28/SL34 was produced in Nyeri County at the Thageini mill, by farmers and members of the Aguthi Co-op, which has around 2,000 producer members. Cooperative members bring their cherries to the mill, which then sorts and produces them as a combined, regional lot that expresses the profile of the Nyeri region.

Green coffee beans grown and produced within the Nyeri County develop and mature slowly, producing extra-hard beans that are full of flavour and character. For this reason our green bean partner, Project Origin, partnered with the Thageini washing station to create their first Kenyan ‘CM Selections’ Carbonic Maceration coffees in 2017 and have been working with them ever since. We source Washed, Natural, Peaberry and CM Selections coffees from Thageini and are inspired by the local team’s dedication to quality.

Nyeri lies between Mount Kenya and the Aberdare mountain range, along the the Eastern flank of the Great Rift Valley. The Kikuyu, the largest ethnic group in Kenya, call Mount Kenya the ‘Mountain of Whiteness’. The white peaks are thought to be the home and throne of the deity ‘Ngai’, the creator of the universe. The majority of the residents of Nyeri are members of Kenya's largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu, with residents generally being known as "Nyeri Kikuyu". Coffee and tea farms surround the Nyeri town and are the most important source of income and community wealth in the county.

We have been buying lots from the Thageini Mill since 2016, working with them to develop experimental processing and generally improve infrastructure and facilities for its workers and the wider community. This particular lot is comprised of SL (Scotts Labs) varieties – SL28 and SL34 – which are among the most widely grown in Nyeri and Kenya as a whole. Grown by members of the Aguthi Farmers’ Cooperative, the mixed SL cherries are collected, sorted and processed at Thageini as a combined lot, sharing the combined efforts of the 2000 member cooperative. The addition of Carbonic Maceration (Washed) processing adds extra complexity to the coffee, with notes of baked apricot, green apple and toffee.