Kenya Coffee Grading: What is the Best Kenya Coffee? Kenya Coffee Flavor Description

With national support behind it, the average quality of Kenya's washed Arabica beans is exceptionally high, processed with meticulous care. Fine Kenyan coffee not only possesses the lively wine-like acidity similar to Mocha, stimulating both sides of the tongue, but it even offers the rich body that Mocha lacks. Among African coffees, it can brew the most balanced cup.

Kenya grows high-quality Arabica coffee. The beans absorb almost all the essence of the entire coffee cherry, featuring subtle acidity and a rich, aromatic flavor. This makes them highly popular among Europeans, especially in Britain, where Kenyan coffee has surpassed Costa Rican coffee to become one of the most favored varieties.

Kenyan Coffee Bean Classification System

Kenyan coffee is classified primarily by bean size, with cup quality and weight as secondary criteria. The classification is as follows:

Grade Classifications

AA Plus (AA+): AA grade beans with particularly outstanding cup quality (flavor, mouthfeel).

AA: Screen size 17-18.

AB: Screen size 15-16, accounting for the majority of production.

C: Smaller than AB screen size.

TT: Lighter beans selected from AA and AB grades using air classifiers.

T: Lighter beans selected from C grade using air classifiers.

E Elephant Bean: Large mutated beans where two beans have fused together, also known as elephant ear beans.

UG: Beans that don't meet the above standards.

PB: Peaberry (round bean), classified by shape only, unrelated to flavor or weight.

M'buni (Natural): The lowest grade beans, not water-processed, intended only for the domestic market.

Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee recommends the following brewing parameters for Kenyan coffee:

V60 / 91°C / 1:15 ratio / brewing time: 2 minutes 15 seconds

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kenya's reputation rests on its washed processing, and FrontStreet's Kenya Small Tomato is one of the clearest expressions of it. The country is known for its double-washed method, in which the beans are floated, depulped, rinsed to remove the mucilage left on the surface, soaked again, and then dried and hulled. All that repeated rinsing and soaking pushes the juice-like quality to the extreme, giving a cup with rich aromas of cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear, black plum, and yellow sugar, juicy and sweet-and-sour, and a favorite of many coffee fans.

If the double-washed style appeals to you, FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe Gutiti cooperative lot is another excellent way to taste clean washed clarity: a smallholder lot from the Wolka area of southeastern Yirgacheffe, it keeps the bean's own aroma intact and shows citrus and lemon acidity with elegant white florals and a medium-light roast that layers in green tea and honey. And for a cup built on hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel with a classic balance in which no flavor dominates, FrontStreet's washed Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 rounds out the range.