Kiangoi is a Wet Mill affiliated to Rungeto Farmers Co-operative Societylocated on the south slopes of Mt Kenya, the third highest mountain in the world. Rungeto FCS Ltd was formed in 1996 after breaking away from the defunct giant Ngariama FCS ltd. It was registered as a co-operative movement on 4thmarch 1997.
Coffee was first planted in Rungeto sub-location in 1952. The three wet mills of Rungeto FCS Ltd were built by the defunct Ngariama society. Kii Factory is the oldest (1965), followed by Karimikui (1968) and the latest is Kiangoi (1995). It is managed by 7 boardmembers: two elected in each wet mill,and onerotational member. The society harvests its main crop in October and November and processes it in readiness for marketing in January. Early crop is less than 10% and is picked in May and June and delivered for milling in August. Kiangoi factory was Utz certified in December, 2009 as an Utz centre of excellence and received the certificate on March 11, 2010.
Nitosols formsKiangoi receives an average of 1300-1800mm of rainfall anually that comes in two seasons namely short and long rains. The main crop receives adequate rainfall that normally starts in March and ends in June each year. The Early crop depends on short rains that usually start in October and end in November.
Main flowering occurs in April at the onset of long rains while light flowering occurs in October at the onset of short rains.
Timely and selective hand picking is carried out in Kiangoi before thecherry is delivered to the wet mill the same day. Cherry sorting is carried out at the wet mill prior to the pulping - red ripe cherries are separated from underipes, overipes and foreign matter. Processing utilizes clean river water (Wet processing) that is recirculated before disposal into seepage pits. Sun-drying is done before delivery of the coffee to the dry mill for secondary processing. The end cuppingquality is normally impressively superior.
