How to Drink Kenyan Coffee? What is the Best Kenyan Coffee and Kenyan Coffee Grade Classification

Coffee Quality Standards and Grading Systems

Unfortunately, there is no international standard for coffee quality. Instead, grading is based on several unique characteristics defined by each producing country. A sample is drawn from a bag and evaluated against that country's standards, after which the whole bag is labelled with a grade, good or bad according to the result. Most grading criteria focus on appearance (size, uniformity, colour), the number of defective beans in each sample, and cup quality, which naturally covers flavour, bean shape and whether the beans have been properly and evenly roasted. Because the grades and terminology vary by country, and quality standards only fit locally produced coffee, explaining true quality can be hard without knowing the origin's grading system. Yet these countries share at least one thing: all use standard mesh screens to determine bean size, so buyers need not guess the size of what a producer supplies.

Coffee may carry exotic regional names or be classified by processing method, washed or unwashed. It might have a descriptive name, or simply consist of one or two letters arranged with numbers. In countries where the industry is nationalised, the grading system can seem rather uninteresting. In Kenya, for example, a bag might be washed "AA" with a number representing one of ten brewing qualities, yet this seemingly ordinary coffee is regarded by most experts as among the world's best. In India, "Plantation A," presumed washed since the unwashed is called "cherry," is one of the finest coffees, though not the same grade as Kenya's. India has recently become a free market, so everyone is watching which grading system it adopts.

Most Caribbean and Central American countries use terms that represent altitude. Costa Rica's eastern region produces LGA (Low Grown Atlantic) and HGA (High Grown Atlantic); the western slopes produce HB (Hard Bean), MHB (Medium Hard Bean), GHB (Good Hard Bean) and SHB (Strictly Hard Bean). The harder the bean, the higher the growing altitude, and the more expensive it is. The best Costa Rican plantations can label their beans with a cultivation-altitude note, while Costa Rica and Nicaragua also use names such as Central Bueno Lavado (MG), Central Altura (higher grown) and Central Estrictamente Altura (SHG) to represent quality grade and cultivation altitude.

Kenya Coffee Production

Kenya produces high-altitude washed Arabica beans that rank among the world's finest coffees. Kenya is both a major producer and a model of excellent coffee. All coffee is bought uniformly by the Kenya Coffee Board for inspection and grading before being auctioned.

No country values producing high-quality coffee as much as Kenya, which makes it the best model among producing nations. Because all Kenyan coffee must be handed to the government-established Kenya Coffee Board (CBK) for unified acquisition and cupping grading after harvest, every Tuesday in the capital the officially established Nairobi Coffee Exchange holds a public auction. This government-coordinated public system has helped over 570,000 small-scale coffee farmers across Kenya obtain good prices for their quality crop.

In fact, the Kenyan government's support goes much further. It gives many small farmers the technical knowledge to grow excellent coffee, guides nearly 300 agricultural marketing cooperatives toward better green bean processing, and the Kenya Coffee Board (CBK) invests effort and educational guidance in production, quality research and sales, and even financial assistance. This has created the unmatched quality and flavour that coffee buyers around the world love.

Kenya Coffee Grading

The cultivation history of Kenyan coffee dates back to the late nineteenth century, when varieties were introduced from the northern neighbouring country of Ethiopia. After their own improvements, the common varieties now include Bourbon, Kents (SL34, SL28), Typica and Riuri 11. Today about 90% of the cultivated varieties are SL34 and SL28. The new variety Batian, released in 2007, has not yet been widely planted. Most Kenyan coffee is uncertified organic cultivation, since improved techniques are used with minimal chemical pesticides or herbicides.

Kenya Coffee Varieties

FrontStreet Coffee's Kenyan coffees are mostly AA grade. We generally use light to medium roasting to express Kenya's flavour characteristics, which keeps a certain body while preserving Kenya's berry-like acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

V60/90-92°C/1:15/Time: 2 minutes 15 seconds

Flavor: Rich cherry tomato flavor with persistent sugarcane aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Given Kenya's bright berry acidity, the bean that matches this article best is FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Cherry Tomato. It is a Kenyan specialty washed coffee built on vivid cherry tomato and smoked plum acidity with a full, juicy body, a favourite of drinkers who like bright fruit acidity and complex flavour. It comes from Kenya's Sika region, grown at 1,550-1,750 meters from the classic SL28 and SL34 varieties, with a full, rounded bean, and uses Kenya's signature 72-hour double washed fermentation to draw out the fruit aroma while keeping the cup clean and pure. FrontStreet roasts it light to preserve the lively acidity and layered fruit as much as possible. The dry aroma already shows rich dried cherry tomato and floral notes; the cup opens with clear cherry tomato and smoked plum, bright and solid acidity like freshly squeezed juice, a prominent sweetness in the middle with snow pear and black plum, and a clean, long finish of brown sugar sweetness and a light green tea aroma.

For a softer, more balanced washed coffee in the same range, FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 shows how washed processing can go the other way. Washed processing removes the skin, pulp and pectin before drying, which reduces the moisture left around the bean, shortens drying time and yields bright, low-defect beans. In the cup the Blue Mountain No.1 is rich and pure, with hazelnut, cream, chocolate and caramel notes and a balanced body in which no single flavour stands out or is missing.