Manual Brewing Parameters Recommendations for Kenya Washed AA Grade Kirinyaga Kabare Kungyu Specialty Coffee Beans

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Pour-over Kongyu

15g coffee grounds, medium-fine grind (Fuji ghost-tooth grinder setting 3.5), V60 dripper, water temperature 91-93°C. First pour 30g water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and stop. Wait until the water level drops to half, then slowly pour until reaching 225g total. Discard the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Coffee Information

• Country: Kenya
• Grade: AA
• Region: Kirinyaga Region
• Altitude: 1550-1750 meters
• Soil: Red phosphate soil
• Processing: Kenyan double-washed processing method
• Varieties: SL 28, SL 34
• Processing Station: Kongyu Processing Station
• Producer: Kabare Cooperative Society
• Flavor Notes: Grapefruit green tea, citrus, black raspberry

Kenya: The Birthplace of Exceptional Coffee

Located in East Africa, Kenya is one of the world's major coffee-producing countries, with approximately six million people engaged in the coffee industry, mostly as smallholders and cooperatives.

Kenyan coffee trees are mostly grown at altitudes between 1400-2000 meters. Growing regions include Ruiri, Thika, Kirinyaga, Mt. Kenya West, Nyeri, Kiambu and Muranga, primarily on the foothills of Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare range.

Many growing regions in Kenya strive to preserve native forest ecosystems, protect natural gene banks, support wild coffee varieties and nurture diverse coffee trees.

In 1930, Kenya's unique varieties SL28 and SL34 were cultivated and named by "Scott Laboratories" in these favorable environments.

According to SL laboratory botanists, SL28 and SL34 are genetic variants. SL28 has mixed lineage from French missionaries, Mocha and Yemeni Typica. The original goal of cultivating SL28 was to mass-produce coffee beans that were both high-quality and resistant to pests and diseases.

Although SL28's production volume later fell short of expectations, its copper-colored leaves and broad bean shape offer wonderful sweetness, balance and complex, varied flavors, with distinctive citrus and plum characteristics. SL34 has flavors similar to SL28, but in addition to complex, varied acidity and a great sweet finish, it has a heavier, richer and cleaner mouthfeel than SL28. SL34 has lineage from French missionaries, Bourbon and more Typica bloodlines. The beans look similar to SL28 but are better adapted to sudden heavy rains. These two important varieties are what lead us to understand the unique Kenyan style: strong, rich fruit acidity, a rich mouthfeel and beautiful balance.

Flavor Profile

Intense lemon and plum aromas in both dry and wet fragrance. Sipped at a light roast, it presents stunning floral and lemon aromas along with the sweet, juicy sourness of grapefruit green tea and citrus juice. Slightly deepening the roast brings out honey and black raspberry flavors, while the aftertaste offers the pleasant sweet-and-sour taste of green tea.

Origin Story

This Kenyan coffee comes from the Kongyu Processing Station of the Kabare Cooperative Society in Kenya's Kirinyaga region, using Kenyan double-washed processing. It grows on the eastern slopes of the Kenyan mountains in the Manyata-Embu County at 1550-1750 meters altitude. The varieties are the classic Kenyan SL28 and SL34. Combined with the large day-night temperature differences and Kenya's red phosphate soil, acidity and sweetness become the main flavor notes of this Kenyan coffee.

The fresh coffee cherries of this Kongyu AA batch are picked and processed by 250 farmers from the Kongyu Processing Station under the Kabare Farmer Cooperative Society. After being pulped, fermented and washed with water from the nearby Kongyu River, the coffee is placed on African drying beds to dry. Each harvest season, the farmers process nearly 300 tons of fresh coffee cherries. After processing, the coffee participates in the weekly coffee auctions held every Wednesday in Nairobi. Once selected by licensed exporters, it is shipped to consumer markets worldwide.

Personal Experience

In previous Kenyan coffees, we particularly loved chasing those angular, powerful fruit acids. This Kenyan coffee, however, felt gentle to me — like facing the sea with a soft breeze blowing.

Product Information

• Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
• Address: No. 10 Bao'an Qianjie, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, FrontStreet Coffee
• Contact: 020-38364473
• Shelf Life: 90 days
• Net Content: 227g
• Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
• Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans
• Sugar Content: Sugar-free
• Origin: Kenya
• Coffee Type: Other
• Roast Degree: Light roast

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A bright, washed Kenyan like this one is at its best in a V60, and there is a reason. Hario, the company behind the V60, was founded in Tokyo in 1921 and began as a maker of heat-resistant glassware for research; its heat-resistant glass server is still a popular companion for pour-over. In 2004 Hario redesigned the dripper, naming it for its distinctive 60° cone and V shape, and released it a year later. The cone forces water toward the center before it drops into the server, lengthening contact between water and grounds so aroma and flavor extract fully, while the single large hole lets the flow run freely — meaning the brewer's pour controls the speed, and that control shows directly in the cup.

For the classic Yirgacheffe-style florals and citrus that a fast, precise V60 pour rewards, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Gedingding is the usual first stop, with its bright citrus, berry and floral notes and green-tea sweetness. FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Huakui goes in a fruitier direction, with strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit and even lychee and very low bitterness, and FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Esmeralda Red Label Geisha offers jasmine, citrus, bergamot and black tea in a transparent, layered cup. All of them are built for this dripper.

Kenya fans should also look at FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Small Tomato, a washed Kenyan from the Sika region at 1550-1750 meters, grown from the classic SL28 and SL34 varieties with plump, round beans. It uses Kenya's signature 72-hour double-washed fermentation, and FrontStreet Coffee roasts it light to preserve the lively acidity and layered fruit. The dry fragrance already shows rich sun-dried tomato and florals; the sip is clear cherry tomato and smoked plum with bright, solid acidity and fresh-juice fullness; the mid-palate brings prominent sweetness with pear and black plum; and the finish is clean and long, with yellow-sugar sweetness and a light green-tea note — a very distinctive, well-balanced cup.