Top African Kenya Coffee Bean Brands Recommendations - Which Kenya Coffee Brands Are Worth Drinking

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FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Kenya Coffee Grading

Characteristics of Kenya Coffee

Kenya's coffee-growing regions are concentrated mainly in the plateau areas around Mount Kenya, at altitudes of 1,500-2,100 meters. The main growing regions have a tropical climate in the central part, and their acidic red volcanic soil gives Kenya coffee its characteristic citrus, berry, and other multi-layered fruit and wine-like aromas. The soil is rich in phosphates, which lends Kenya coffee its uniquely bright fruit acidity.

Common Grading for Washed Kenya Coffee

Hand-picked coffee cherries, after manual selection to remove defects such as unripe and overripe fruit, are pulped, fermented for about 36 hours, and then sun-dried on metal racks. After processing, the parchment is removed at the plant, producing Kenya green beans with a blue-green appearance. These green beans are classified by size, shape, and weight:

E: Kenya E, Elephant Bean, 18 screen or above (including round beans)

AA: Kenya AA, 17-18 screen

AB: Kenya AB, 15-16 screen, a mixture of Grade A and Grade B

17 screen (6.8mm) and above is Grade A

16 screen (6.3mm) and above is Grade B

TT: Light beans selected from AA and AB by air classifier

PB: Kenya PB, 15 screen and above, round beans and peaberries, accounting for about 10% of Kenya coffee

C: 12-14 screen, plus light beans from PB selected by air classifier

T: Below 12 screen, with more defective beans, broken beans, and light beans

HE: Beans outside the above grades become HE (Hulled Ears)

Knowledge Point: Kenya's coffee-growing regions are distributed mainly across Central Province, Eastern Province, Rift Valley Province, Western Province, and Nyanza Province.

In Summary

FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research hall dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Every month we have three low-discount coffee activities, because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends enjoy the best coffee at the lowest price. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kenya's reputation rests on its mastery of washed processing, and FrontStreet's Kenya Cherry Tomato is one of the finest examples. Kenya is highly skilled at double washed processing, which repeats the washing step - floating the beans in water, scrubbing off the mucilage left on the surface, soaking them again, then drying and hulling. All that rinsing and soaking pushes the juice-like quality to the extreme, giving aromas of cherry tomato, dark plum, pear, black plum, and yellow sugar, with a sweet-and-sour, juicy body that many coffee lovers count among their favorites.

For a different take on washed processing, FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 is worth tasting. Jamaica is an island climate with relatively short sunshine hours, and washed processing was developed there to reduce the risk of spoilage: removing the skin, pulp, and mucilage before drying cuts the water trapped around the bean, shortens drying time, and yields clear, low-defect beans. That processing is what guarantees Blue Mountain's rich aroma - in the cup you get pure hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel, with a balance in which no single note dominates or falls short.

If you would like to compare against an African washed coffee from Ethiopia, FrontStreet's Gedingding Cooperative is a strong choice. From the village of Gedingding at Yirgacheffe's southeastern edge, it follows traditional washed processing and shows none of the usual bitterness - just jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity, with green tea and honey notes after a medium-light roast.