A Brief History of Kenya Coffee Bean Auctions & Grading System - Best Affordable Kenyan Coffee Brands

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Geography and Climate of Kenya

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is located in eastern Africa, with the equator crossing through its central region and the Great Rift Valley running north to south. It borders Somalia to the east, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and Ethiopia and Sudan to the north, while its southeast faces the Indian Ocean. The country is predominantly highland, with an average elevation of 1,500 meters. Mount Kirinyaga (Mount Kenya) in the central region reaches 5,199 meters, with snow-covered peaks, making it the second-highest mountain in Africa.

Altitude, Latitude, and Geology: The equator runs through Kenya, placing the country within ten degrees north and south latitude. This tropical region experiences two rainy seasons annually, allowing for two harvests: 60% concentrated from October to December, and the remaining 40% from June to August. Coffee is primarily cultivated in volcanic soils at altitudes of 1,600-2,100 meters around the capital Nairobi to the Kenya Mountain region. This altitude is ideal for developing coffee flavor characteristics, as mountain temperatures are lower, growth is slower, allowing aromatic compounds to fully develop, resulting in more pronounced fruit acidity and harder bean density. This crescent-shaped fertile coffee zone is the main production area for Kenya's premium coffee beans.

Coffee is Kenya's second-largest export commodity after tea.

Kenyan Coffee Varieties

Kenya has two varieties that particularly attract specialty coffee producers: SL-28 and SL-34. These are two of forty varieties developed from a research program led by Guy Gibson at Scott Laboratories, which cultivated and named them in the 1930s. According to SL Laboratory botanists, SL28 and SL34 are genetic variants. They constitute the majority of Kenya's high-quality coffee production, though these varieties are susceptible to leaf rust disease.

SL34 possesses French Mission, Bourbon, and more Typica genetic heritage. With its copper-colored leaves and broad bean shape, it exhibits wonderful sweetness, balance, and complex, variable flavors, along with distinctive citrus and black plum characteristics.

Current popular Kenyan varieties also include the disease-resistant but slightly less flavorful Ruiri 11, the drought-resistant Batian, K7, and Kent. Kenya has made tireless efforts in developing leaf rust-resistant varieties. Ruiru11 was the first variety successfully recognized by the Kenya Coffee Board, and there are high expectations for the future cupping quality of the Batian variety.

Regional Coffee Characteristics

Coffee from each county in Kenya is distinctly different. Kenya is divided into 47 counties.

Different counties produce coffee with clearly defined characteristics. Kenyan coffee trees are mostly cultivated at altitudes of 1,400-2,000 meters, with two harvests annually. Growing regions include Ruiri, Thika, Kirinyaga, Mt. Kenya West, Nyeri, Kiambu, and Muranga, primarily on the foothills of Mt. Kenya and Aberdare. For example, Embu region coffee characteristics: balanced, citrus fruits, chocolate, apple acidity. Nyeri region coffee characteristics: white grape, juicy, grapefruit and cherry tomato flavors, full of fruitiness, sweet as caramel.

Major Kenyan Coffee Growing Regions

NYERI

Located in central Kenya, Nyeri is home to the extinct volcanic Mount Kenya. The red soil of this region nurtures Kenya's finest coffee. Agriculture is extremely important here, with coffee being the primary crop. Smallholder cooperatives are more common than large estates. This region has two harvests, but coffee from the main season typically has higher quality.

Altitude: 1,200-2,300 meters

Harvest Period: October-December (main season), June-August (secondary season)

Varieties: SL-28, SL-34, Ruiru11, Batian

MURANG'A

Located in Central Province, this region has approximately 100,000 coffee farmers. This inland region was among the first settlement areas chosen by missionaries because the Portuguese prohibited them from living in coastal areas. It's another region benefiting from volcanic soils, with more smallholder coffee farmers than estates.

Altitude: 1,350-1,950 meters

Harvest Period: October-December (main season), June-August (secondary season)

Varieties: SL-28, SL-34, Ruiru11, Batian

KIRINYAGA

Bordering Nyeri to the east, this region also benefits from volcanic soils. Coffee is typically produced by smallholders, and wet mills also produce considerable amounts of extremely high-quality coffee well worth trying.

Altitude: 1,300-1,900 meters

Harvest Period: October-December (main season), June-August (secondary season)

Varieties: SL-28, SL-34, Ruiru11, Batian

EMBU

Near Mount Kenya, this region's name comes from Embu town, where approximately 70% of the local population engages in small-scale agriculture. The most popular cash crops in the region are tea and coffee. Almost all coffee comes from smallholders, and production in this region is relatively small.

Altitude: 1,300 meters

MERU

Coffee in this region is mostly grown by smallholders on the foothills of Mount Kenya and the Nyambene Hills. The name refers to the magnetic field area and the Meru people who inhabit it. In the 1930s, they were among the first Kenyans to start producing coffee, due to the Devonshire White Paper signed in 1923, which guaranteed the importance of protecting the rights of people of African descent in Kenya.

Altitude: 1,300-1,950 meters

Harvest Period: October-December (main season), June-August (secondary season)

Varieties: SL-28, SL-34, Ruiru11, Batian, K7

KIAMBU

This region in central Kenya has the highest altitude coffee growing areas within the district. However, some coffee trees at high altitudes suffer from dieback disease, causing them to stop growing. This region is named after Nakuru town. Coffee cultivation here includes both estates and smallholders, though production is relatively small.

Altitude: 1,850-2,200 meters

Harvest Period: October-December (main season), June-August (secondary season)

Varieties: SL-28, SL-34, Ruiru11, Batian

KISII

Located in southwestern Kenya, not far from Lake Victoria, this is a relatively small growing region where most coffee beans come from cooperatives formed by small producers.

Altitude: 1,450-1,800 meters

Harvest Period: October-December (main season), June-August (secondary season)

Varieties: SL-28, SL-34, Blue Mountain, K7

TRANS-NZOIA, KEIYO & MARAKWET

This small region in western Kenya has begun to develop in recent years. Mount Elgon provides considerable altitude, and most coffee comes from estates. Coffee cultivation is often intended to diversify farms that previously only grew corn or dairy products.

Altitude: 1,500-1,900 meters

Harvest Period: October-December (main season), June-August (secondary season)

Varieties: Ruiru11, Batian, SL-28, SL-34

Processing Methods

Most coffee farms are small-scale operations producing several hundred kilograms annually. They decide whether to sell cherries to nearby processing factories (Coffee Factories) based on transportation distance and purchase prices. Farmers own very small plots of land, often measured by the total number of trees on a piece of land, which means producers frequently have more autonomy to strategically harvest coffee cherries and can deliver the ripest cherries to local factories (wet mills). Factories typically have abundant water resources for precise wet processing, including prolonged soaking of coffee beans in fresh water to consolidate the characteristic Kenyan flavor profile.

The Kenyan 72-Hour Fermentation Wet Processing Method originated in Kenya and employs a repeated processing method of fermentation followed by washing. Processing begins on harvest day, selecting the highest quality cherries for pulping and fermentation, with a fermentation time of 24 hours, after which they are washed with clean river water.

Next, they undergo another 24-hour fermentation in clean river water, followed by washing. This cycle is repeated 3 times to reach 72 hours, hence the name Kenyan 72-Hour Fermentation Wet Processing Method, abbreviated as K72.

First Wash and Fermentation

After coffee cherry harvest, they undergo water density sorting; the principle utilizes differences in coffee fruit density and quality for selection; high-density (heavy) coffee beans sink in water, while low-density beans float. Fully ripe, high-quality coffee fruits have high density and are selected for further processing.

After selecting high-quality, sufficiently ripe fruits, the skin is removed for wet soaking, allowing the mucilage attached to the green beans' outer layer to ferment. The mucilage contains natural sugars and alcohols that play a crucial role in developing coffee sweetness, acidity, and overall flavor.

The fermentation period lasts up to 24 hours, removing 80-90% of the mucilage, leaving only the flavors within the coffee beans.

Second Wash and Fermentation

Next enters the second wash and fermentation process. After cleaning the coffee beans from the previous stage, they are soaked again in water for 12-24 hours. This process increases proteins and amino acids, creating complex and refined acidity layers in the coffee beans.

Finally, all remaining mucilage is removed, and the coffee beans are moved to raised racks for sun drying. The drying time depends on weather conditions, generally requiring about 5-10 days to complete.

Kenyan Coffee Grading System

Kenyan coffee beans have a strict grading system. Coffee beans from wet mills are classified by size, shape, and density into grades: AA, AB, C, E, PB, TT, T, ML, MH. These grades primarily distinguish bean shape and size, not necessarily quality. Many people believe that larger beans contain more aromatic oils that produce coffee aroma, and therefore larger beans command higher prices in the market.

AA grade is a level name for green coffee commodities, primarily referring to coffee bean size. AA grade indicates larger coffee beans, generally green coffee beans of 17 mesh or above (17 mesh = sieve aperture diameter 6.75MM). AA size is 17 and 18 mesh, AB is 15 and 16 mesh.

Within the same grade level, the highest grade is estate beans, followed by "+", then regular AA. AB grading follows AA, C grade is smaller beans, E grade is extra-large elephant beans, TT, T, ML, MH are local inferior grades not commonly seen elsewhere.

For quality distinction, Kenya uses a numerical grading system to differentiate coffee quality, but this numerical grading system hasn't been widely promoted, so fewer people know about it. Therefore, grading still prioritizes larger bean size, while differently shaped PB grades are approximately equivalent to AA, but estate or + grades advance two levels or one level respectively. For example, AB estate beans are approximately equivalent to AA+ and PB+. Flavor grades are sequentially TOP, PLUS, FAQ. FAQ - "Fair to Average Quality" may have some slight defective beans but doesn't affect flavor.

Brief History of Kenyan Coffee Auctions

In the beginning (before the Great Depression era), coffee was sold by London merchants who held coffee for up to six months after leaving the factory before paying farmers. Farmers had to rely on bank funding and pay transportation costs.

By 1926, the Coffee Growers Alliance was established with the goal of helping producers make better coffee and earn more money. The 1930s were a time when various groups attempted different types of cooperation and sales systems, resulting in rapid changes within the Kenyan coffee industry, as colonial alliances began to split into smaller cooperatives. The Thika coffee cooperative alliance became the largest and most important of these factions, eventually replaced by the Kenya Coffee Union (KPCU) due to political lobbying by farmers and merchants.

Until this time, various farm owner unions, then the Kenya Coffee Board, had concentrated discussions on gaining control over processing and consolidating coffee efforts. So far, these movements have passed, gaining real control over Kenyan coffee marketing. The auction system thus emerged from the motivation of Kenyan farmers who wanted to gain control over their coffee marketing.

The first auction was established in 1931 but didn't override the importance of London traders. Several other auctions followed with varying degrees of success until 1937, when the Nairobi Coffee Exchange opened with broad support. Additionally, a national grading standard was developed in 1938. This was controlled through KPCU.

The Rise of Smallholder Coffee Farmers

Early coffee production represented colonial landowners, allowing only large plantations to grow coffee. Land ownership always determined how a coffee sector was constituted. With Kenya's colonial history, in 1946, the government (still a colony) began to open up rules about who could grow crops and actively started encouraging indigenous Kenyans to grow cash crops, including coffee.

The growing independence movement (Mau-Mau rebellion) led to the smallholder revolution beginning, as the Director of Fish and Game Care Agency removed previous restrictions.

Kenyan coffee beans come from two main growing areas: plantations, consisting of approximately 3,300 farms covering about 40,000 hectares. In addition to plantations, there are also 3,000 smallholdings (50 hectares). This accounts for about 25% of Kenya's coffee-growing land. The remaining 75% consists of cooperatives, with 270 cooperatives totaling 700,000 smallholder members growing coffee on 120,000 hectares.

Smallholder cooperatives began building factories/washing stations in the 1960s, enabling them to process their coffee in the same way as large plantations.

Today, these factories serve up to 2,000 members, and to this day, their high-quality Kenyan coffee beans are recognized worldwide.

Kenyan Coffee Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Kenyan coffee beans offer excellent guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value-for-money - a 227-gram box costs only 95 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to café prices that often run tens of yuan per cup, this represents a conscientious recommendation.

Important Notice :

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