Kenyan Coffee Bean Regional Grading Standards and Asalia Coffee Variety Flavor Profile

Why Kenyan Coffee Has Such Unique Acidity

Kenya, located near the "birthplace of coffee" Ethiopia, produces coffee with remarkably bright acidity. It typically presents dark berry notes, with tomato-like sweet and juicy sensations also appearing within the cup. The flavor complexity is relatively high, making it a popular origin in today's specialty coffee market. So, do you know why Kenyan coffee's acidity is so distinctive?

Deeply Connected to Growing Environment

Kenya is located in low-latitude regions, traversed north-south by the Great Rift Valley, with elevation gradually increasing from east to west. Most areas have a tropical savanna climate, with coastal regions being hot and humid, while the highland climate is mild and very suitable for coffee cultivation. Coffee is primarily grown in volcanic soils at elevations of 1600-2100 meters around Kenya's mountainous regions. Due to the lower temperatures in mountainous areas, growth is slower, allowing the aromatic components of coffee beans to fully develop. This results in their main characteristic being distinct fruit flavors, such as berries and black plums.

Kenya's coffee-producing regions consist of six main areas: Thika, Kirinyaga, Mt. Kenya West, Nyeri, Kiambu, and Muranga. The Kenyan coffee beans on FrontStreet Coffee's menu come from the Thika region.

The cultivation altitude in the Thika region ranges between 1550 to 1750 meters. Thika is a small town located near Kenya's capital, Nairobi. There are many coffee fields around Nairobi, and while Thika is an industrial town, it is surrounded by agriculture and waterfalls. The Thika region has approximately 2000 farmers. FrontStreet Coffee determined through cupping that this region's flavor profile features bright fruit acidity, rich berry juice sensations, and honey-like sweetness.

Exquisite Washed Processing Enhances Kenyan Coffee

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, unlike Ethiopia's washed processing method, Kenya's washed processing method employs a cyclic repeated processing technique of fermentation followed by washing, also known as the Kenyan-style 72-hour fermentation washed processing method, or K72 for short.

After harvesting high-quality ripe coffee cherries on the same day, they are immediately pulped and fermented in fermentation tanks for 24 hours. After the first 24-hour period ends, they are immediately washed thoroughly with large amounts of clean river water. Then, they undergo another 24-hour fermentation in clean river water. After the second 24-hour period, the previous step is repeated, thus reaching 72 hours total. The entire washed process takes 72 hours. This processing method allows coffee beans to ferment for extended periods at low temperatures, enabling the beans to achieve brighter, cleaner, yet fuller flavors! FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Assalia coffee beans are processed using the K72 washed processing method.

Kenyan Green Bean Grade Classification

Kenyan coffee beans are classified by size, which is also considered directly related to quality, with the best being AA, followed by AB. The advantage of classifying by size is that after selecting varieties, larger coffee bean particles represent fullness and quality, which is also very favorable for roasting. This way, we can ensure consistent quality in Kenyan coffee. Although we can still distinguish the specific flavor differences between regions like Nyeri, Kirinyaga, and Kiambu, they generally all possess the distinctive Kenyan characteristics of bright acidity, tomato, and berry-like flavors.

Kenyan Coffee Varieties

Kenya's most famous coffee varieties are SL28 and SL34. The Kenya Assalia coffee launched by FrontStreet Coffee contains only these two varieties: SL28 and SL34.

The full name of SL is "Scott Laboratories," translated in Chinese as "Scott Laboratories." Scott Laboratories developed multiple SL varieties. Researchers selected 42 varieties from different origins and compared their yield, quality, drought resistance, and disease resistance. After individual numbering and screening, they finally obtained SL-28 and SL-34. SL coffee trees have very wide leaves with copper-colored tips. The beans are short and round with thick bodies, featuring uplifted acidity and distinct sweetness characteristics.

Since then, Kenya has been making tireless efforts to develop varieties resistant to leaf rust disease. Ruiru11 was the first successful variety recognized by the Kenya Coffee Board, which can be understood as the Kenyan version of Catimor. FrontStreet Coffee cupped Kenyan coffee beans mixed with Ruiru11, finding that the flavor expression had slightly less sweet and sour sensation, with a slight roughness. This also proves that varieties have a significant impact on flavor.

How to Brew Tomato Flavors from Kenyan Coffee Beans

To preserve the rich acidity of Kenyan coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's roasters adopted light roast after multiple rounds of cupping comparisons. For brewing, due to the harder texture of light-roast coffee beans, higher temperature hot water is needed to extract the floral and fruit flavors from the coffee. Here, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using 92℃-93℃. FrontStreet Coffee recommends a medium-fine grind size, equivalent to the thickness of fine sugar (78% passing rate through China standard #20 sieve). Too coarse, and you cannot extract the rich body substances, resulting in thin coffee. Too fine, and it's easy to over-extract at high water temperatures, causing the coffee to release excessive bitterness.

Dripper: V60

Water Temperature: 92-93℃

Dose: 15g

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Fine sugar size (78% passing through #20 sieve)

Three-Stage Pouring: Use twice the weight of coffee in water to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome and bloom for 30s, then use a small water stream to pour in circles from inside to outside until reaching 125g, then pause. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the filter cup's height, then continue with the same fine water stream to pour the third stage to 225g. Until all coffee liquid has filtered through, remove the filter cup. The total time is about 2 minutes. After the coffee from the filter cup flows into the server below, remove the filter cup, then gently shake to evenly distribute the coffee liquid in the server, and you can begin tasting the flavors from high temperature.

The pour-over Kenyan coffee presents tomato, dark berry, and black plum fruit flavors. The sweetness evokes honey, accompanied by a rich, rounded prune-like juice sensation. The layers are extremely rich, with a full mouthfeel and a bright, clean aftertaste.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473