Kenya Coffee Bean Grading System Kenya AA TOP Grade Coffee Flavor and Taste Description

AA represents the highest quality grade of FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya selection. This grade is truly exceptional among premium coffees, which is why FrontStreet Coffee holds such deep affection for this Frontsteet Kenya AA TOP from the Thika region. The TOP designation is awarded by Kenyan coffee merchants after cupping. This Frontsteet Kenya coffee undergoes K72 double-washed fermentation processing, resulting in exceptionally bright and lively acidity, with delicate notes reminiscent of berries and red wine that are utterly tantalizing. During brewing, rich berry aromas instantly emerge, while the palate reveals distinct flavors of cherry tomatoes and smoked plums. The acidity and aroma coexist in the mouth for an extended period, with a cream-like sweetness in the aftertaste and a long-lasting sweet finish.

Kenya Coffee Classification System

Kenya's coffee classification system was established under government-led policies for quality management and farmer guidance. After harvesting, coffee is handled by the official government unit "Coffee Board of Kenya" (CBK), established in 1933. Weekly auctions are held at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange in the capital. Under this government-managed auction system, classification is based on "bean size," weight, and appearance, which serves as the primary basis for auction pricing.

Considering that coffee beans of similar size roast more consistently in terms of heating temperature and rising speed during the roasting process, Kenya classifies coffee bean grades based on bean size and cupping scores. According to the size, shape, and hardness of green coffee beans, Kenyan coffee beans can be roughly divided into eight grades: E, PB, AA, AB, C, TT, T, and MH/ML.

Coffee Grade Classifications

E: Kenya E grade, known as Elephant beans, are large in size and relatively scarce in production.

PB: The English name for PB is Peaberry, which everyone knows as round beans with an elliptical shape. Normal coffee fruits contain two coffee seeds, while peaberries contain only one seed.

AA: Kenya AA can be considered the most common grade, typically grown at altitudes above 6,600 feet, with larger bean sizes of 17/18 screen.

AB: Screen size of 16/17. Kenya AB coffee beans are composed of A and B grade coffee beans. Grade A is screened using 6.8mm sieves, while Grade B uses 6.2mm sieves. These two types of beans, A and B, are mixed together to form Kenya AB grade.

C: Screen size below 14.

TT: Kenya TT refers to light-density coffee beans separated from Kenya AA, AB, and E grades through air sorting. Large screen size but low density, though quality can still qualify as specialty coffee.

T: Below 14 screen, small particle size, with density and quality insufficient for specialty coffee classification.

MH/ML: Low-quality natural processed beans, mostly overripe beans dried on trees.

FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Asalia

The Frontsteet Kenya Asalia coffee beans, launched by FrontStreet Coffee's in-house roasting, belong to AA grade and come from the Thika region. They undergo the Kenyan 72-hour washed processing method and are of SL28 and SL34 varieties, making them a top choice for many acidity-loving coffee enthusiasts. If you're trying this Frontsteet Kenya Asalia coffee bean for the first time, FrontStreet Coffee recommends sampling hot pour-over black coffee to better experience the flavor characteristics of FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Pour-over Recommendations

Light-roasted coffee beans preserve more floral and fruit aromas from high-altitude coffee beans. Compared to medium-dark roasts, the internal structure of light-roasted beans is denser, requiring higher water temperature and finer grinding to better extract the coffee's flavor compounds. FrontStreet Coffee uses hot water at 92-93°C for extraction, and adjusts the grinding fineness to achieve 80% pass-through rate with a #20 standard sieve.

FrontStreet Coffee's flavor descriptions for each coffee are based on freshly roasted beans. If coffee beans have been stored for over a month, some aromas may have diminished, making it difficult to restore the original character during brewing. FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands the importance of freshness, therefore ensuring only coffee beans roasted within 5 days are shipped, allowing everyone to enjoy the complete flavor window upon receipt.

Recommended Brewing Parameters

Dripper: V60
Water Temperature: 92-93°C
Dose: 15g
Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Fine sugar size, EK43s - setting 10 (20# sieve bowl to 80% pass-through)

First pour 30g of water for 30-second bloom, then pour 95g (digital scale shows around 125g), completing in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100g (digital scale shows around 225g), completing in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Complete drip filtration at 2'10", remove the dripper, and finish extraction.

Flavor Profile

FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Asalia pour-over flavor: The wet aroma presents ripe tomato and floral notes. At higher temperatures, the entry shows sweetness of caramel and brown sugar. As the temperature slightly decreases, cherry tomato and smoked plum acidity emerge, with bright acidity, clean mouthfeel, medium body, prominent mid-palate sweetness, and juicy characteristics. The FrontStreet Coffee Kenya AA TOP beans exhibit cleaner flavors with richer layers, performing better in terms of body, sweetness, and acidity.

Iced Pour-over Method

At FrontStreet Coffee, many customers actively request iced coffee because, compared to hot beverages, they prefer the refreshing, juice-like sensation of iced coffee. Therefore, many friends ask us how to brew a delicious iced pour-over coffee.

Regarding what parameters to use for iced pour-over, FrontStreet Coffee has a proprietary formula: Iced pour-over = coffee powder (fine grind) + 10x hot water + 5x ice cubes. Combined with fruit-acid type light-medium roast coffee beans, we recommend using 91-93°C water temperature, small circular water flow, and three-stage pouring technique to achieve extraction time between 1 minute 50 seconds and 2 minutes, easily producing a pot of flavorful iced coffee.

The juice-like sensation in coffee typically comes from the rich fruit aromas detected during smelling combined with the sweet and juicy sensations experienced when tasting, reminiscent of eating certain fruits. When applied to today's iced pour-over theme, this means capturing both the front-end aromatic compounds and pursuing the back-end sweetness to achieve the sweet and sour juice-like mouthfeel. Such requirements cannot be met by water flow agitation alone, so FrontStreet Coffee incorporates an additional step: stirring.

Iced Pour-over Parameters

Coffee Beans: FrontStreet Coffee Kenya · Asalia
Dose: 15 grams
Ratio: 1:11 (160g hot water)
Ice Cubes: 75 grams
Grind Size: Fine sugar / EK43s setting 9.5 (C40 approximately 22)
Dripper: Hario V60
Three-stage: 30g, 90g (+ stirring), 45g

Before pouring, first place ice cubes in the server and add all coffee grounds. The first bloom stage remains unchanged - maintain small water flow, pouring 30g in circular motions from center outward.

After 30 seconds, begin pouring 90g of hot water with large circular motions while raising the water level. When the timer scale shows 120g, stop pouring and use a small spoon to stir 5 circles along the dripper wall in one direction, then wait for the coffee liquid to slowly drip down.

When the water in the dripper is about to run out, use the same small water flow and small circular motion from the first stage to pour the remaining 45g of hot water. Once all coffee liquid has finished dripping, remove the dripper to end extraction. The total time will typically fall between 1 minute 55 seconds and 2 minutes 5 seconds.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473