Ichamara Peaberry is everything a fine Kenya coffee should be -- floral, sweet, balanced yet complex, with caramel, black currant, apricot and sweet lemon wrapped with wine toned acidity. This peaberry has depth and character that makes it a powerful yet pleasing cup.
This is an auction microlot peaberry from the small village of Ichamara near Mt. Kenya. This area is famous for producing some of the finest Kenyan coffee. This dense peaberry attests to that fact. It has depth, resonance and wonderful wine tones.
Ichamara Peaberry is produced by the 3, 665 active small holding farmers (average farm size is .75 acres) of the Gikaru Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS). Coffee beans are processed in the wet mill located in Ichamara, Kenya, from which it draws its name. It is composed of SL 28, SL 34 and Ruiru varietals grown at elevations of 1400 – 1650 meters above sea level.
Peaberry means the coffee cherry produced one seed with rounded edges instead of two seeds with a flat sided face. Some coffee experts think that when there is only one seed in a cherry more coffee "essence" is transferred to that single seed. Peaberry coffee tends to be more intense than its flat bean counter part. Peaberry beans were once considered a defect until some very astute person roasted and brewed a cup. Now they are marketed as a premium and separate grade. They usually make up 10% or less of a crop, so the lot sizes, as in this case, are exceptionally small, often comprising only a few bags. Peaberries tend to be very hard, dense coffee beans. This means they tend to accept dark roasting well for those of you who like your coffee that way.
Coffee beans are handpicked and carried out in Ichamara wet mill of Gikaru FCS. Cherry is delivered to the wet mill the same day it is picked. Cherry sorting is carried out at the wet mill prior to the pulping. Red ripe cherries are separated from underipes, overipes and foreign matter. Processing utilizes clean river water (wet processing) that is recirculated before disposal into seepage pits. Sun drying is done before delivery of the coffee to the dry mill for secondary processing. Gikaru FCS currently is undergoing Fair Trade certification.
