Journeying from Nairobi into the Central Highlands of Kenya, you pass through Kiambu county – the start of the country’s coffee growing region. The town of Thika borders the next county, Murang’a, the homeland of the Kikuyu tribe, and it’s here we find the Githaka estate – a local word meaning forest – under the guidance of the Ngugi family who have owned it since 1966. It is situated just on the Murang’a side of the River Chania, which marks the border with Kiambu. The river also supplies the water the estate uses to process the coffee cherries in the traditional Kenyan washed style. Their distinctive sky blue fermentation tanks have twisting channels which the water carries the coffee cherries along, with wooden gates used to guide each lot into the right place.
- Region: Muranga County
- Variety: Ruiru 11, SL28, SL34
- Process: Washed
- Altitude: 1600 - 1700masl
- Harvest: November 2020