Fruits of Kenya

Roaster: Olympia Coffee, Olympia Washington
Origin: Kenya
Region: Aberdare Mountains of Kiambu County
Cooperative/Washing station: Gitwe, Kibiru
Process: Washed
Varieties: high percentage of SL-28 and SL-34




Dry Fragrance: buttery, rich caramel sweetness, and berry fruits - intense

Tasting notes: This coffee strikes you first as tart blackberry meets caramel custard with a distinct but soft bitterness of kumquat or grapefruit pith. The caramel sweetness is nicely balanced with the tartness of blackberry and underlying bitter notes of grapefruit. Overall this a complex and vibrant coffee with pleasant lingering aftertaste and creamy mouthfeel which contrasts nicely with the tartness.

Brew recommendations: This coffee brewed well at a 1:16 ratio on Beehouse, Origami and V60. The blackberry notes were more apparent on the Beehouse and V60 while the creamy mouthfeel and sweetness were best with Origami. I don't recommend this one on Kalita.

Roaster's notes: Gitwe Cooperative's three washing stations, Karatu, Kibiru, and Karinga, are all located in the Aberdare Mountains of Kiambu County, an hour outside of Nairobi. The Cooperative is extremely small by Kenyan standards at around 800 farmers. Each farmer's geographic location determines which washing station they would contribute to. This lot comes from the Kibiru washing station and was produced as the 20th lot of the season, or harvest day. Before export, coffee is sifted through screen filters and graded by bean size. Beans with a screen size of 17 or 18 (17/64 or 18/64 of an inch) are assigned the grade AA. While bean size is only one factor in deciphering quality, we have seen a pattern that AA coffee tends to include a higher percentage of the varietals SL-28 and SL-34. This is one reason for the superior quality of this origin.

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