In the fertile highlands near Mount Kenya at 1,650 masl, the Gakundu Coffee Factory is managed by the Gakundu Farmers’ Cooperative Society. Renowned for its meticulous processing methods and robust farmer support, the cooperative offers comprehensive training programmes and provides pre-financing for education, agricultural inputs, and emergency needs. Its commitment to sustainability extends to significant investments in responsible water management.

The cooperative is composed of more than 1,200 smallholder farmers, who intercrop coffee with bananas and maize in the region’s rich red volcanic soils, beneath the shade of indigenous grevillea and macadamia trees. Coffee is harvested by hand, and delivered to the factory on the same day. Cherries are then sorted by hand to remove any underripe or defective fruit, and are then pulped. The resulting parchment coffee undergoes fermentation to break down mucilage, after which it is graded. Kenyan coffee grades (AA, AB, C etc.) refer to this stage, where the green coffee is sorted by size, with AA being the largest beans. The coffee is then thoroughly washed and slowly sun-dried on raised beds until it reaches a moisture content of 10.5%.