Flavour Notes: Blackberry, Mango, Hibiscus Origin: Nyeri County, Kenya Producer: Gathaithi Coffee Growers Cooperative Society Processing: Washed Variety: Ruiru 11,SL 28, SL 34,Batian Altitude: 1600 m.a.s.l. Roast Profile: Filter Roast Degree: Light

Gathaithi AA, Nyeri, Kenya

This washed AA lot from the Gathaithi Cooperative in Nyeri is everything we love about classic Kenyan coffee: precise, vibrant and beautifully expressive. In the cup we find blackberry and hibiscus up front, with a ripe mango sweetness that rounds it out as it cools. It’s roasted for filter to keep the structure crisp and the finish exceptionally clean.

Gathaithi Cooperative, established in 2000, brings together around 1,600 smallholders farming on the slopes of Mt Kenya in Tetu, Nyeri. Cherries from their main harvest (September to mid-January) are meticulously processed, and the AA grade here—Kenya’s largest screen size—often correlates with superb clarity and intensity, which this lot delivers in spades.

The varieties are predominantly SL28 and SL34—selections from the Scott Laboratories that are renowned for cup quality—supported by small amounts of Ruiru 11 and Batian for resilience. It’s a mix that preserves the character we prize in Nyeri coffees while ensuring farmers can continue to produce excellent lots year after year.

What we love at Fjord is the interplay of dark fruit and bright florals: that cassis-like blackberry, a hibiscus lift, and a plush tropical sweetness that lingers. It brews effortlessly on pour-over and batch, staying refreshingly taut without becoming sharp—exactly the kind of Kenyan profile that made so many of us fall in love with coffee in the first place.