Karatu Coffee Factory was established in 1965, located in Githunguri sub County; Kiambu County and rests on 11 acres piece of land serving Karatu, Gitwe, Kibiru and Kigaa Villages. Currently it is affiliated to Gitwe Farmer Co-operative Society Ltd. Its membership currently stands at 800 farmers. Plantation is on red soil and the area experiences temperatures ranging between 13-24 degrees Celsius. The long rains fall between March-May while the short rains come between October and December. In addition to coffee, common crops grown are banana and maize. Grevillea or macadamia trees are also planted to provide shade to the growing coffee trees.

In Karatu Factory, all the harvested cherries are delivered to the factory and undergo the wet processing method. Water is pumped from River Rwabura to the reservoir tanks for pulping. Red, ripe cherries are separated from under-ripes, over-ripes and any foreign matter, and the wet mill processing utilizes clean river water that's later re- circulated before it is disposed of in seepage pits. Before the coffee is delivered to the dry mill for secondary processing, it's dried in the sun on traditional raised beds. To ensure efficiency, the factory has invested in a mechanical pulper, a recirculation system and about 22 conditioning bins for processing.