Which Brand of Kenyan Coffee is Best? The Finest Kenyan AA Coffee Beans

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FrontStreet Coffee - Kenyan Coffee Introduction

The top coffee grade is Peaberry (PB), followed in descending order by AA++, AA+, AA and AB, and so on. Premium coffee has a bright gloss, a delicious taste and a slight wine-like aroma.

Kenyan coffee carries a wonderful, satisfying aroma, a balanced and pleasing acidity, uniform bean size and outstanding fruit flavor. Its taste is quite distinctive, with few coffees resembling it. The hallmark of Kenyan coffee is its pronounced fruit fragrance. Look for that note in the cup and notice how it feels on the palate. The most common fruit fragrance is citrus. Kenyan coffee has layered flavors and juice-like acidity, with perfect pomelo and wine notes and a moderate body.

Premium Kenyan coffee is aromatic and rich, with fruity flavors and a full, complete mouthfeel. It tastes of blackberry and grapefruit, which is why so many connoisseurs favor it. The coffee has excellent medium clarity and a crisp, refreshing texture, and its fresh flavor makes it ideal for iced coffee in summer. Paired with acidic fruit such as pomelo, it becomes an unbeatable experience. "Not quite like coffee, more like fruit tea" is a common reaction to this light-roasted Kenyan coffee.

Beyond its obvious and charming fruit acidity, most Kenyan coffee comes from smallholders working in widely different environments, meeting different climates and rainfall each year, which lends the beans a range of distinctive personalities. Take the AA Plus grade "Kenya AA+ Samburu" as an example. The 2001 vintage had a rich dark plum aroma, low acidity and a thick mouthfeel. The Samburu harvested in the winter of 2002 presented a completely different flavor: mulberry and green plum with a touch of Southern spice, a sweet green tea aftertaste, acidity a little higher than the previous year, and still a thick mouthfeel. Ordinary Kenyan coffee usually lacks that thick body but shows bright fruit-like flavors, some with spice notes and some with red wine aroma.

In short, Kenyan coffee is aromatic and rich, with fruity flavors and a full, complete mouthfeel, tasting of blackberry and grapefruit in a way that so many connoisseurs love.

Knowledge Point

Coffee roasting is the process that triggers Maillard reactions and caramelization inside the beans, producing a wider range of wonderful flavors.

In Brief

FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research institute, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. Our unrestrained sharing is only meant to let more friends fall in love with coffee, and every month we run three low-price coffee promotions, because FrontStreet Coffee wants more people to drink the best coffee at the lowest price. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's principle for six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kenya's juicy fruit acidity is hard to beat, but if you prefer a sweeter, rounder cup, a medium roast will bring the balance you are after. The FrontStreet Queen's Estate Brazil is a fine place to start: grown in the world's largest coffee-producing country and made from the distinctive Yellow Bourbon variety, it is medium-roasted into aromas of cream peanut, chocolate, toasted bread and sugarcane, sweet and clean, and it works for pour-over as well as a moka pot or espresso machine.

If you want something sweeter still, the FrontStreet Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend is the go-to. This blend brings together two renowned Central and South American origins, a honey-processed Costa Rican coffee and a washed Panamanian Geisha, and a medium roast keeps both sides at their best. Expect orange-blossom honey notes and a rounded sweetness, delicious as cold brew, pour-over or espresso.

Finally, the FrontStreet 2013 Natural Typica is worth trying for its gentle, even character. Roasted to a medium level, it shows soft notes of nuts, brown sugar, black tea and dried apricot, and it is versatile enough for pour-over, cold brew or a drip machine at excellent value.