Kenya Kirinyaga Coffee Region Mukuya Coffee Beans V60 Brewing Kenya Coffee Flavor Description

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FrontStreet Coffee - Kenya Mugaya AB Coffee Beans

Region: Kenya Mugaya Processing Station

Altitude: 1400m

Variety: SL28 & SL34

Processing Method: K72 Washed

Season: 2020

Grade: AB (coffee bean size between 15-16 mesh)

Kirinyaga Region

The Kirinyaga region sits on the slopes of Mount Kenya, adjacent to Nyeri, and is renowned worldwide for coffee of intense flavor, rich layers, and solid mouthfeel. Together with Nyeri, it is recognized as one of Kenya's two finest coffee-growing regions.

Producers here are mostly smallholder farmers organized into cooperatives, which play a unifying role by running washing stations where farmers deliver their cherries for processing. Altitude ranges from 1300 to 1900 meters, with harvests from October to December (main season) and June to August (secondary season). Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee has found that the region's coffee leans predominantly berry-flavored, with moderate sweetness and notes of honey and cream.

Mugaya Processing Station

The Mugaya Processing Station is located in Kirinyaga and was established in 1975 under the leadership of the Mutira Farmers Cooperative Society. The cooperative has 924 members, each owning an average of 200 trees. The station sits at 1570m, with an average annual temperature of 12-26°C, red volcanic soil, and annual rainfall of 1,100mm — conditions that sustain lush plant growth and high coffee yields.

After harvesting ripe cherries, smallholder farmers deliver them to the station for washed processing, with the help and support of their partner, Coffee Management Services (CMS). CMS's long-term goal is to raise production through farmer training, increased investment, agricultural know-how, and supplies for sustainable agricultural development — encouraging farmers by growing their incomes and steadily reaching those targets. CMS firmly believes that building transparent, trust-based relationships with smallholder farmers supports the sustainable growth of the entire domestic coffee industry and keeps improving the standards of Kenyan premium coffee.

Coffee Bean Varieties

SL28 & SL34

SL-28 and SL-34 are two of the 40 varieties developed under a research program led by Guy Gibson at Scott Laboratories, which cultivated and named these varieties in the 1930s. According to SL laboratory botanists, SL28 and SL34 are genetic variants.

With copper-colored leaves and a broad bean shape, SL28 and SL34 offer wonderful sweetness, balance, and complex, varied flavors, along with prominent citrus and plum characteristics.

Coffee Processing Method

K72

Most Kenyan washed coffee goes through Kenya's unique K72 process: fully ripe cherries are washed and pulped, dry-fermented for twenty-four hours, washed, dry-fermented again for twenty-four hours, washed, and dry-fermented once more for twenty-four hours — a cycle repeated to reach 72 hours of intensive fermentation. After washing, the beans soak in clean water tanks overnight, and drying begins on the sun-drying beds the next morning. The name K72 comes from those 72 hours of fermentation.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Recommendations

FrontStreet's roaster uses a Yangjia 800N semi-direct flame roaster with a 480g batch: preheat the drum to 160°C, set the air damper to 3, and heat to 120. Return point: 1'28". When the temperature reaches 130°C, set the air damper to 4. At 6'00", the temperature reads 154.6°C, the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy aroma vanishes completely, and dehydration is done.

When the bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and dark patterns and the toast aroma clearly turns into coffee aroma, that is the prelude to first crack — now listen carefully for its sound. At 9'28", first crack begins; keep the air damper unchanged, let first crack develop for 2'20", and drop the beans at 193.8°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee cups sample beans within 8-24 hours after roasting. The baristas typically use 200ml ceramic cups, with cupping water at 94°C. The grind is controlled to a 70%-75% pass rate through a #20 standard sieve (0.85mm). The ratio is 11g of grounds to 200ml of hot water — that is, 1:18.18 — so the extracted concentration falls within the golden cup range of 1.15%-1.35%, with a steeping time of 4 minutes.

Dry Aroma: Berries

Wet Aroma: Caramel

Flavor: Black plum, plum, grape, caramel, nuts

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Experience

Dripper: V60 #01

Water Temperature: 90°C

Coffee Amount: 15g

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:16

Grind Size: Medium-fine grind / BG#6S (77% pass rate through #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Technique: First wet the filter paper and preheat the dripper and server. Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in small circles to 130g before pausing. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 240g and stop. When the bed is about to surface again, remove the dripper (timing starts from the bloom). Extraction time: 1'59".

Brewing Flavor: berry juice notes up front, plum and grape in the middle, with almond aroma and caramel sweetness in the finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ask an experienced pour-over hand for a practical, beginner-friendly dripper and they will most likely recommend the V60. Its maker, Hario, was founded in 1921 in Tokyo as a producer of heatproof glass instruments for research institutions; in 2004 Hario redesigned the V60 prototype into its modern form, named for its 60° cone angle and "V" shape, and released it the following year. The cone and 60° angle force water toward the center before dripping, extending water-to-grounds contact for fuller extraction of aroma and flavor, while the signature single large hole leaves flow control entirely to the brewer. FrontStreet favors the resin version: it insulates against heat loss and, in standardized mass production, is the easiest material to mold with the smallest error.

The V60's fast extraction suits bright, fruit-forward beans. The FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Gotting from Ethiopia — a common first stop for newcomers to specialty coffee — brings vivid citrus, berry, and floral notes with a green-tea-like sweet finish, its acidity soft and bright rather than harsh. The FrontStreet Ethiopia Huakui (Hambela natural) is even more exuberant, with strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, and lychee aromas, pronounced sweetness, low bitterness, and a juicy, smooth entry.

For another take on Kenya, the FrontStreet Kenya cherry-toned lot comes from the Thika growing region at 1,550-1,750 meters, grown on the classic SL28 and SL34 and given Kenya's characteristic 72-hour double-wash fermentation, then lightly roasted: dried cherry tomato and floral dry aroma, crisp cherry tomato and smoked plum on entry, bright and solid acidity like fresh-pressed juice, snow pear and black plum mid-palate, and a clean, long finish of yellow sugar and faint green tea.