French Mission Bourbon - What is Kenya French Mission Coffee? French Mission Characteristics

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Coffee Origins and History in Kenya

Coffee is native to Ethiopia. Around 1850, French missionaries introduced coffee to Kenya through the Bourbon colony (the origin of the Bourbon variety), where it took root locally. Most varieties cultivated in Kenya are SL improved varieties. Native coffee varieties are quite rare.

Kenya is one of the cradles of humanity, where human skull fossils dating back about 2.5 million years have been discovered. From 1890 until independence in 1963, Kenya was under British colonial rule for approximately seventy years.

Kenya is located in eastern Africa, neighboring Ethiopia, the "source of coffee." Although the soil is fertile, the country's first coffee cultivation was introduced from Brazil in 1893 - Bourbon (also known as French Mission, commemorating the French missionaries who introduced it); like a story of "left turn, right turn," coffee didn't move south into the interior but crossed the Red Sea northward. After hundreds of years of dispersal, settling in various places and mutating around the world, it finally returned to its homeland - the Great Rift Valley.

As a British colony, it was natural that the benefits from coffee exports were skewed toward the colonial power. Until 1954, Kenyans owned only 5,000 acres of cultivated land, with most of the remainder controlled by the British and sent to London for auction. Although the colonies seemed exploited, without the British Scott Laboratories, Kenyan coffee would not have today's achievements. Because its representative varieties SL-28 and SL-34 were two of the forty coffee varieties cultivated by that laboratory at the time. Current popular varieties in Kenya also include Ruiri 11 with high disease resistance but slightly inferior flavor, as well as Batian, K7, and Kent with high drought resistance.

The Mau Mau Uprising from 1956 to 1960 returned most cultivated land control to local residents. Coffee farms are mostly small-scale operations producing several hundred kilograms annually. They decide to sell their fruit to nearby processing factories based on transportation distance and purchase prices. For example, the famous Karagoto coffee is actually a processing plant located around the town of Karatina. After collecting coffee cherries from nearby farmers, they process and export them. It also provides farmers with technical support for cultivation. Karagoto itself, together with Tegu and Ngunguru processing plants, forms the Tekangu Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS). Most of Kenya's famous production areas are concentrated in the central region, such as Nyeri, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, and mountainous areas in the west near Uganda (Nakuru, Bungoma, Kitale, etc.).

In the early 20th century, French and British missionaries and researchers conducted selective breeding of coffee trees in Kenya, successfully cultivating two direct descendants of the Bourbon variety - "SL28" and "SL34." Over the past century, Kenyan coffee has long adapted to Kenya's high-phosphorus soil and nurtured the special acidic aroma essence of Kenyan coffee beans, with flavors distinct from Bourbon coffee beans in other Central and South American countries.

Unlike Kenya's current mostly cultivated improved varieties SL28 and SL34, French Mission is a native Bourbon coffee variety before scientific improvement. Introduced to Kenya by a French delegation in the late 19th century from the Bourbon Island (now Réunion), it retains the flavor characteristics of traditional Bourbon varieties. The appearance and flavor of this variety are somewhat similar to the Bourbon of neighboring Rwanda, where almost the entire country cultivates traditional native varieties.

FrontStreet Coffee's Kenyan French Mission Bourbon

FrontStreet Coffee's [Hania] comes from Kenya's French Mission Bourbon. Traditional natural processing meets traditional coffee varieties, which is truly surprising.

The French Mission Bourbon variety processed using the natural method has a rich and dense body. Besides the thick chocolate aftertaste, it also has distinct natural fruit flavors, and the coffee's body thickness is excellent.

The Harris family has been growing coffee in the Thika region for over 100 years and has deep understanding of this area's unique red volcanic soil. Combined with suitable coffee growing temperatures and rainfall, these excellent growing conditions create the unique flavor of French Mission coffee.

Brewing Parameters and Flavor Profile

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing recommendations:

V60/90°C water temperature/1:15 ratio/2 minutes brewing time

Flavor:

Sweetness carrying excellent citrus aromas. Stability with a touch of lightness, like grapefruit-like tropical fruit aromas. Medium balance with a hint of wildness.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473