Bright Flavor Profile of Kenyan Coffee: Taste Description and Regional Characteristics

For more premium coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat official account: FrontStreet Coffee

When it comes to the most acidic coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee immediately thinks of Kenyan coffee beans, with flavors of cherry tomatoes and black plums coming to mind. As an agricultural crop, coffee bean flavors also change with climate variations, and each harvest season brings certain changes in coffee characteristics. In recent years, Kenyan coffee beans have shown rich berry juice notes, black plum acidity, and caramel sweetness. Although the coffee's acidity may not be as intense as before, it hasn't diminished people's love for Kenyan coffee.

Kenya Coffee Growing Geography & Harvest Seasons

Kenya is a tropical region with two rainy seasons annually, allowing for two harvests. 60% of Kenyan coffee beans are harvested from October to December, while the remaining 40% are harvested from June to August. Kenyan coffee is primarily grown in volcanic soil at elevations between 1,200-2,300 meters around Kenya's mountainous regions. This altitude is ideal for flavor development, as the cooler mountain temperatures slow growth, allowing aromatic compounds to fully develop. Additionally, Kenya's phosphorus-rich soil enhances the fruity acidity of the coffee beans, while high-altitude cultivation results in harder bean density. The fertile, crescent-shaped coffee growing area around Kenya's mountains is the main producer of Kenyan specialty beans.

Major Kenyan Coffee Growing Regions

Kenya's coffee regions are most famous for seven major areas: Thika, Kirinyaga, Mt. Kenya West, Nyeri, Kiambu, Ruiri, and Muranga. The foothills of Mt. Kenya and Aberdare serve as the primary growing areas, including Kenya's premium coffee regions: Kirinyaga, Thika, Nyeri, and Muranga.

The Nyeri region, located in central Kenya, is home to the extinct volcano Mount Kenya. This area's red soil nurtures Kenya's finest coffee, with coffee grown at elevations between 1,200-2,300 meters.

The Kirinyaga region is situated on the slopes of Mount Kenya, adjacent to the Nyeri region, and is renowned worldwide for producing coffee with intense flavors, rich complexity, and substantial body. Together with Nyeri, it's recognized as one of Kenya's two most outstanding regions, with coffee grown at elevations between 1,300-1,900 meters.

The Muranga region, part of Central Province, has approximately 100,000 coffee farmers. This inland region was one of the first areas where missionaries settled, as the Portuguese prohibited them from living in coastal areas. It's another region benefiting from volcanic soil, with more small-scale coffee farmers than large estates. Coffee is grown at elevations between 1,350-1,950 meters.

The Thika region, located in central Kenya, features the highest elevation coffee growing areas in the region. Thika itself is a secondary area within this growing region, situated at the foot of the Aberdare mountain ridge, with red volcanic soil rich in organic matter. Coffee is grown at elevations between 1,550-1,750 meters. The Kenya Assalia coffee beans sold by FrontStreet Coffee come from the AA grade beans of the Assalia processing station (also known as the Bee processing station) in the Thika region.

What Are Kenya AA Grade Coffee Beans?

Kenyan coffee grading is primarily based on bean size, shape, and density, classified from highest to lowest as AA or AA+, AB, PB, C, E, TT, and T.

For AA and AB grade green coffee beans, special grading based on cupping results has been added (not officially recognized by Kenyan authorities, but established by exporters), ranked from highest to lowest as TOP, PLUS (+), and FAQ. FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Assalia flavor grade reaches the TOP level.

Kenyan Coffee Bean Processing - 72-Hour Washed Processing

Kenya's washed processing method is world-renowned but differs from standard washed processing. Kenya's K72 processing method refers to a 72-hour fermentation period, whereas standard washed processing rarely exceeds 36 hours. This extended fermentation time creates the distinctive acidity found in Kenyan specialty coffee. The process involves first selecting ripe coffee cherries, removing pulp and skin, then soaking in water tanks for fermentation to remove mucilage. This process takes 72 hours, after which the beans are dried until reaching 12% moisture content.

Main Kenyan Coffee Varieties

When mentioning Kenyan coffee, people often first think of its bright, uplifted fruit acidity and full, rich juice-like body, with unique flavors that always leave a lasting impression. The Kenyan washed processing is highly favored, and SL varieties are celebrated worldwide as representative Kenyan varieties.

SL stands for Scott Laboratories, the name of Kenya's coffee research center, which first developed the SL series varieties in the 1930s. Among these, SL 28 and SL 34 are two of the 40 experimental varieties from the research program and are the most well-known and popular specialty coffee varieties. Scott Laboratories was established by the colonial government in 1922 and has since been renamed NARL (National Agricultural Laboratory). The laboratory employed an entomologist, a mycologist, and a plant breeder to provide farmers with technical advice and cultivation knowledge, with other work including yield experiments, grafting trials, pruning, shade-growing, and root covering details.

At that time, Kenyan agriculture was long affected by drought and other hazards, so scientists from Scott Agricultural Laboratory traveled to Kenya's neighboring Tanzania region to collect local coffee tree varieties, selecting those with potential for drought and pest resistance. After nearly 30 years of selection and breeding, the laboratory finally released SL28 and SL34 with the best quality performance in the 1950s and began promoting their cultivation throughout the country. Soon, these two new SL varieties gradually replaced the originally planted Bourbon coffee trees, becoming Kenya's main coffee varieties in the latter half of the 20th century.

Among these, SL28 has mixed heritage from several coffee varieties including French Mission, Mocha, and Yemen Typica. The plants are tall with emerald green leaf tips, high yielding, large beans, and strong drought resistance, but are susceptible to coffee leaf rust, coffee berry disease (CBD), and soil nematodes. In terms of flavor, SL28 not only has distinct black plum and citrus flavors but also exhibits rich, deep drupe acidity similar to wine-like richness and sweetness.

In comparison, SL34 coffee trees have dark bronze leaf tips, higher nutritional requirements during growth, relatively lower yields, and large beans. When grown at high altitudes, they show excellent quality potential, expressing good fruit acidity with nut and spice aromas. The tree's constitution is similar to SL28, both being highly sensitive to CBD, leaf rust, and pests. Thus, SL28 and SL34 varieties have created the classic flavors that have made Kenyan coffee famous worldwide, fascinating countless coffee lovers who appreciate acidity. FrontStreet Coffee's own roasted Kenya Assalia coffee beans are SL28 and SL34 varieties, producing black coffee with intense aromas of cherry tomatoes, black plums, snow pears, and berries.

How to Brew Kenyan Coffee for Juice-Like Body?

Coffee from Kenyan regions is known for its distinctive and complex berry notes. With ideal extraction, it offers both dense acidity and rounded fruit sweetness, with smooth, viscous coffee liquid that provides a mouthfeel similar to biting into a bursting tomato. Considering this coffee bean's rich acidic fruit flavors, FrontStreet Coffee aims for clearer fruit aromas, so we use a 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio. Using the common single-cup dose of 15 grams from FrontStreet Coffee's stores as an example, this requires 240 grams of hot water. The parameters include high water temperature and fine sugar-like grinding.

During segmented extraction, different components in the coffee grounds extract at different rates, with flavors releasing in the order of acid, sweet, then bitter. To increase the proportion of acidity and sweetness in the coffee, more water can be allocated after blooming while reducing the amount of water in the later stages for balance, making it easier for the coffee to express lively acidity.

During the blooming stage, even water absorption by the coffee bed helps dissolve the maximum amount of flavor compounds, especially increasing the concentration of coffee liquid with acidic and floral aromas. FrontStreet Coffee experimented with splitting the bloom water into portions, continuing to pour another 15 grams after the initial 15 grams, allowing the coffee to extract acidic and sweet flavor compounds more quickly and in greater quantities.

Coffee grounds: 15 grams
Total water: 240 grams
Water distribution: 30 grams, 130 grams, 80 grams
Water temperature: 91°C
Grind size: EK43s setting 10 (82% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve)

According to FrontStreet Coffee's brewing experience, coffee brewed with large water flow shows richer layering and more prominent acidity, while coffee brewed with small water flow emphasizes softer, rounded sweetness. Therefore, to highlight the coffee's fruity acidity and rich complexity without causing too short aftertaste or too thin body, FrontStreet Coffee uses large water flow first, then small water flow for extraction.

First, pour 30 grams of water and start timing, blooming for 30 seconds. After blooming, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-large water flow (greater than 7g/s) to quickly pour in large circles for 130 grams. Wait until all coffee liquid has dripped into the lower pot, then use small water flow (less than 4g/s) to slowly pour in small circles the remaining 80 grams of hot water. When all coffee liquid has dripped into the sharing pot, end extraction, with a total time of 2 minutes (±10 seconds).

It's worth noting that the second water segment has a larger allocation, and if poured too quickly, it can build the coffee bed too high. When the water level drops, particles at the filter cup edge may be difficult to rinse with the final hot water, potentially leading to under-extraction. Therefore, the rising final water level should be controlled appropriately without going too high. Here, FrontStreet Coffee controls the water level to about 3/5 of the filter cup height after completing the second pour.

This brewing method highlights the dense berry acidity of Kenyan coffee in hot pour-over, with juice-like body leaning toward cherry tomatoes and aftertaste carrying the refreshing sweetness of ripe blueberries, making it perfect for summer.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473