Seasonal Kenya Gichugu 250g Beans

Kenya has earned a reputation for producing some of the world's finest coffees, where fertile volcanic soils, cool mountain climates and generations of dedicated smallholder farmers combine to produce coffees celebrated for their vibrant fruit character, balanced sweetness and exceptional clarity.

This season we're pleased to feature a Kenya Peaberry from the renowned Gichugu region in central Kenya. Sourced exclusively from the Rumukia Cooperative Society, this lot represents the dedication and expertise of the cooperative's smallholder farmers, whose carefully cultivated coffee is processed at Rung'eto Coffee Factory. Renowned for working with smallholder producers across the region, the factory is recognised for consistently delivering coffees that reflect the vibrant character and exceptional quality for which central Kenya is celebrated.

Situated between 1,600 and 1,900 metres above sea level, the region enjoys rich volcanic soils, dependable rainfall and ideal growing conditions for high-quality Arabica coffee. The combination of altitude, fertile soils and careful farming practices allows the coffee cherries to mature slowly, encouraging the development of vibrant acidity, natural sweetness and remarkable complexity.

After harvest, ripe cherries are pulped, sorted by density, fermented, washed and soaked before drying using Kenya's traditional washed process. Renowned for producing coffees with exceptional clarity and vibrant acidity, this method allows the coffee's distinctive character to shine. During milling, Peaberries are carefully separated from the rest of the harvest. Forming naturally as a single, rounded bean rather than the usual two, they account for only a small percentage of the crop.

Once considered one of coffee's rarest treasures, peaberries were traditionally separated by hand, making them highly sought after for their scarcity and distinctive round shape. Today, advances in milling and sorting technology mean peaberries are no longer quite as rare, but they remain a prized and celebrated lot among roasters and coffee enthusiasts alike. Over the years, the "myth of the peaberry" emerged—the belief that its unique shape naturally produces a sweeter, more concentrated and superior cup. While every exceptional coffee is shaped by its origin, processing and roasting, carefully selected peaberry lots continue to be prized for their outstanding cup quality, remarkable consistency and the unique story they bring to every brew.

Comprising a blend of SL28 and Ruiru 11, this Peaberry lot offers vibrant notes of blackcurrant, citrus orange and rich chocolate. A smooth, creamy body leads to a clean, sweet finish, creating a refined and expressive cup that beautifully showcases the distinctive character of Kenyan coffee.

Why Our Coffee is The Best?

Sourcing the Pick of the Crop

Established relationships with producers and the coffee farming community means we can consistently source the best Arabica and Robusta beans from over 40 origins across the Coffee Growing Belt. At Kingdom Coffee we always demand the pick of the crop. We buy Grade 1 or “Strictly High Grown” – SHG coffee beans. By selecting only coffee beans from the highest elevations we can be sure that the bean has matured more slowly, grown to a larger size and with more density to create a consistently great taste profile.

There’s no denying that coffee grown at higher elevations produces the best flavour profiles, which is then sorted and graded by the farmers with greater care and attention and therefore command a higher premium price which we are very happy to pay! We believe passionately that farmers should be rewarded fairly for their hard work and the quality of their crop.

 

 

Investing in the Purest and Cleanest Roast

ROASTING BETTER: We are unique in that we roast on a clean bed of air in small batches as opposed to conventional drum roasting - only 1% of coffee is roasted this way. Air roasting elevates the natural sweetness to give a smooth and pure taste. Unlike traditional roasting, the chaff, the skin of the bean, that surrounds the raw bean is removed during the air process whilst in normal roasting this is burnt onto the bean. This makes the resultant air roasted beans more pure as the beans will taste less burnt and acidic.

CONSISTENCY: Another benefit to Air Roasting is consistency - typical roasters rely upon roasting “to colour“ which returns a high degree of variance from batch to batch. The Air Roasters rely upon exact metrics such as temperature and time with specific profiles that have been developed by our Q Grader, a certified coffee professional, to suit the particular bean. An exact science rather than guess work.

 

 

Protecting the Environment

We all have to recognise and assess our individual impact upon the environment. Our new Air Roaster uses 30% less energy than a typical roaster and reduces wasted heat by recirculating it in a fully enclosed system. We have a catalytic converter to ensure that harmful gases released are reduced by around 96%. Committing further to minimise our impact on the planet we have moved our packaging to 100% curb-side recyclable. This new packaging still protects that fresh roasted taste.

 

 

OUR BEANS are amongst the freshest on the market, being roasted to stock in the UK as opposed to importing roasted beans on a much longer timescale. Our Neotech roaster is more environmentally friendly, energy efficient and better than conventional drum roasters in that it can roast in specific small batches with unique roasting profiles that are able to compensate product variations and unfold the unique flavour of each individual coffee blend whilst reducing wasted heat by recirculating in the fully enclosed system.

Our range of Ethical coffees support our partnership with Toybox, who we aim to donate £100,000 over a period of ten years, having donated £50,000 in the last 5 years. This enabled Toybox to provide the resources needed for the street outreach team throughout 2020, conducting 240 visits to children in the most high-risk areas in Guatemala City as well as deliver 100 children across the city a warm and nutritious meal each week. Your continued support of Kingdom Coffee means that we can fund vital projects like this so thank you very much!