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Kenya
COFFEE BACKGROUND:
Kenya is the 17th largest producer of coffee in the world. The coffee industry of Kenya is noted for its cooperative system of milling, marketing, and auctioning coffee, and for its high percentage of production from small farms. It is estimated that six-million Kenyans are employed directly or indirectly in the coffee industry. The major coffee growing regions in Kenya are the High Plateaus around Mt. Kenya, the Aberdare Range, Kisii, Nyanza, Bungoma, Nakuru and Kericho. The high plateaus of Mount Kenya, plus the acidic soil provide excellent conditions for growing coffee plants. Coffee from Kenya is well known for its intense flavor, full body, and pleasant aroma.
Despite its proximity to Ethiopia (widely believed to be the region from which coffee originated), coffee was not cultivated in Kenya until 1893, when French Holy Ghost Fathers introduced coffee trees from Reunion Island. The mission farms near Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, were used as the nucleus around which Kenyan coffee growing developed.
SPECIES: Arabica
ALTITUDE AT WHICH GROWN: 4,500 - 6,400 ft.
PREPARATION METHOD: “Washed”
ANNUAL PRODUCTION: 1,670,000 bags (99-00 crop)
SHIPMENT PERIOD: Main Crop - December - July, Fly crop: August - December
GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE:
Kenya sits on the equator on Africa's east coast along the Indian Ocean. Its central plateau is cut by the Great Rift Valley. The land to the north is desert, while to the east lies a fertile coastal belt. The total land area is 218,907 sq. miles and has a population of 28.8 million (fastest growing in Africa).
The climate is mostly equatorial, but influenced by monsoons and the Indian Ocean trade winds. The long rainy season is from March to May and a shorter rain arrives between October and December. The dry season stretches from January to March.