What Does Kenyan Coffee Taste Like? Are Kenyan Peaberry Beans More Flavorful Than AA Grade?

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Kenyan Coffee

Kenyan coffee is renowned for its aroma, richness, fruit flavors and a full, perfect mouthfeel. It has a wonderful fruit character with blackberry and grapefruit notes, which makes it a favorite among coffee connoisseurs. The cup has excellent medium purity with a crisp, refreshing texture.

Its unique taste earned it a place among the "Top 30 Best Coffees in the World 2017" compiled by the well-known tasting site Coffee Review. Kenyan samples took three of those positions, standing alongside origins such as Panama, Colombia, Ethiopia, Sumatra, Hawaii, Rwanda and El Salvador.

Why Kenya Is Considered Premium in the Coffee World

Most of Kenya's crop grows in the fertile, loose, acidic volcanic red soil of the highlands north and east of Nairobi. The area enjoys ample sunlight and good drainage, with elevations between 1,400 and 2,000 meters. Because higher altitudes bring greater day-to-night temperature swings, Kenyan coffee matures more slowly than coffee grown lower down, resulting in higher density and richer flavor. Grown in that environment and known as the "Connoisseurs' Cup," Kenyan coffee is famous for its rich aroma, vibrant acidity, full body and elegant red wine flavors.

Cherries picked by smallholders are sent to cooperative farms for unified processing. First, unripe or rotten cherries are sorted out. The cherries are then pulped, fermented and stripped of fruit pulp to release the beans, followed by drying and polishing. The entire process is supervised by the official Coffee Board, which keeps quality control strict. Kenya's wet processing technology is exceptionally strong - most notably the famous double-washed method - making it a model among coffee-producing countries.

Coffee professionals universally regard Kenyan coffee as one of their favorites, thanks to its wonderful, satisfying aroma, its balanced and pleasant acidity, its uniform particle size and its excellent fruit flavors.

Kenyan coffee is graded into seven levels by bean size and into six quality grades by taste, from highest to lowest. The best Kenyan grade is Peaberry (PB), followed by AA++, AA+, AA and AB in descending order. Premium coffee has a bright sheen, a delicious taste and a slight wine aroma. In terms of flavor, "Kenyan AA" is particularly well regarded.

As a point of reference: Kenyan AA consists of the largest coffee beans in the country, with A next largest and B smaller still.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kenya is defined by bright, juicy fruit acidity, and the most rewarding way to understand it is to taste it against a different origin's idea of balance. FrontStreet Coffee's washed Colombia Huila is a good counterpoint. The Huila province in the southern Central Mountain Range is the country's best-known specialty coffee region, with cultivation above 1,500 meters, and the washed process keeps the cup clean with a bright mouthfeel and pleasant acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee roasts its washed Huila medium-dark, which plays up dark chocolate and nut aromas, a moderate crema and a full body. It suits pour-over and French press, and it also extracts beautifully in a moka pot or an espresso machine, so Americanos and lattes are both easy.

If you would rather compare fruit acidity with fruit acidity, FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Sidra is fermented anaerobically, a low-oxygen technique that converts the coffee into much more tropical fruit aroma. At a medium-light roast, whether you brew it as pour-over, cold brew, drip bag or moka pot coffee, you get complex passion fruit, grape and apricot notes.