This juicy coffee is naturally processed, which is rare for Kenyan coffees, with a fantastic mouthfeel. It has the warm cozy notes typical of Kenyan coffees without the also typical savory notes.

Natural process coffee from Kenya is extremely rare. This is a fun coffee to try because it will surely give you a different coffee experience from what you might be used to with a Kenyan coffee. Only 5% of all the coffee produced at the Gatugi Wet Mill is naturally processed.

We buy this coffee through Michael Montante who owns and operates La Baia Coffee Supply. He has direct communication and now 5 years of experience with the folks at Gatugi Wet Mill and an organization called KCCE.

This business of this coffee is also something to note. The farmer and the mill agree on a fair cherry price for this coffee prior to the coffee being harvested. Then, when an amount of coffee is agreed upon for the natural process, they harvest the cherries and prepare them for export. This allows the coffee farmer to have complete ownership over their coffee until the moment it is sold.

After picking, this coffee is floated on water in order to select the most dense cherries The grade of this coffee is technically referred to as “Natural Heavy”. After the most dense cherries are selected, they are spread very thinly on raised drying beds for 4 days, then they are heaped into a 1 inch mass on the drying beds and dried for an additional 26 days. The coffee is churned to ensure the mass is maturing at an even rate and that the cherries all get even sun exposure.

The Gatugi Wet Mill was built in 1979 and has a current smallholder farmer membership of 176 women and 574 men and 4 institutions. There are many people who are positively impacted by the sale of coffee from Gatugi, specifically 800+ farmers, 4 permanent workers at the wet mill and 10 temporary workers during peak season, 4 permanent workers at the dry mill and 12 temporary workers during peak season.