Recommended Kenyan Coffee Bean Brands: Understanding Kenya AA Grade Classification as Quality Assurance

FrontStreet Coffee's Introduction to Kenyan Coffee

Kenyan coffee is typically classified as follows:

Common Classifications

Hand-picked cherries are manually sorted to remove defects such as unripe and overripe fruit. After pulping, the beans ferment for approximately 36 hours, then dry in the sun on raised metal mesh racks. At the mill the parchment is removed, revealing the attractive blue-green color Kenyan green beans are known for.

Those beautiful green beans are then graded by size, shape, and weight:

E: Kenya E, "Elephant Bean," screen 18 or larger (including peaberries). Holds large round beans similar to PB, but in smaller quantities.

AA: Kenya AA, screen 17–18.

AB: Kenya AB, screen 15–16, a mix of A and B lots.

For reference: screen 17 (6.8mm) and above qualifies as Grade A; screen 16 (6.3mm) and above qualifies as Grade B.

TT: lighter beans blown out of AA and AB lots by air classifiers.

PB: Kenya PB, screen 15 and above — round peaberries, roughly 10% of Kenyan coffee.

C: screen 12–14, plus lighter beans blown out of PB lots.

T: below screen 12, containing many defective, broken, and light beans.

HE: beans falling outside the above grades become HE (Hulled Ears).

Ungraded Beans

Green beans that never went through official grading are labeled UG (ungraded).

E, AA, AB, PB → UG1

C, TT, T, HE → UG2

MBUNI (Natural Process, Non-Washed)

All natural (mbuni) green beans undergo gravity separation.

MH: heavy mbuni — dense, yellow beans with no black beans, broken pieces, dried fruit, or other defects. The cup shows typical natural-process flavor with no taste defects.

ML: light mbuni — yellow-green beans that may carry a few insect-damaged or black beans, but no stinkers or broken pieces, and no earthy or off flavors in the cup.

Knowledge Point: Roasting is the process that drives Maillard reactions and caramelization inside the green bean, creating the many wonderful flavors we taste in the cup.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kenya's grading system pairs perfectly with its signature processing method — the double wash. Water processing uses flotation, pulping, fermentation to strip the mucilage, washing or extended soaking, drying, and hulling; the long contact with water changes the bean's chemistry, consuming simple sugars and boosting organic acids, so washed coffee tends to preserve the bean's own aromatics while adding bright fruit acidity and a clean, fresh finish. Two washed lots from our shelf:

FrontStreet Kenya Cherry Tomato. One of the best-known representatives of washed processing, and a showcase for Kenya's famous double-wash — a second full wash cycle of flotation, soaking, washing, drying, and storage. All that repeated rinsing extracts an extreme juice-like quality: cherry tomato, dried plum (wumei), snow pear, black plum, and raw sugar aromas, sweet-tart and dripping with fruit. A favorite among serious coffee players.

FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1. Washed processing was actually born on Jamaica, an island whose maritime climate brings shorter sunshine than most origins — removing skin, pulp, and mucilage before drying cut spoilage risk and drying time. The method yields translucent, low-defect beans and guarantees Blue Mountain's dense aromatics: hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel in a perfectly balanced cup where no single note dominates or falls short.

FrontStreet Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Guodingding Cooperative. For a third washed expression, this lot from the Guodingding village cooperative shows jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity, with green tea and honey emerging after a medium-light roast — lovely as pour-over, cold brew, or even espresso.