Kenya AA Washed Karigaino Region Kabare Factory Single Origin Specialty Coffee Beans

Product Information

Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Processing Degree: Raw coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Kenya
Coffee Type: Other
Roast Degree: Light roast

Coffee Details

Country: Kenya

Grade: AA

Region: Kirinyaga Region

Altitude: 1550-1750 meters

Soil: Red phosphoric soil

Processing Method: Kenyan double-washed processing method

Varieties: SL 28, SL 34

Processing Station: Kongyu Processing Station

Producer: Kabare Cooperative Society

Flavor Notes: Grapefruit green tea, citrus, raspberry black plum

The Story of Kenyan Coffee

Kenya sits in East Africa and ranks among the world's major coffee-producing countries, with approximately six million people nationwide engaged in the coffee industry, primarily as small farmers and cooperatives.

Kenyan coffee trees are mostly grown at altitudes between 1,400-2,000 meters, in growing regions that include Ruiri, Thika, Kirinyaga, Mt. Kenya West, Nyeri, Kiambu and Muranga, mainly on the foothills of Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare Range.

Many coffee-growing regions in Kenya strive to preserve native forest ecosystems, protecting natural gene banks, supporting the reproduction of wild coffee varieties and nurturing a diverse population of coffee trees.

In 1930, Kenya's unique varieties SL28 and SL34, cultivated and named by Scott Laboratories, were born in exactly this kind of exceptional environment.

According to botanists at the SL laboratory, SL28 and SL34 are genetic variants. SL28 in particular carries mixed lineage from French missionaries, Mocha and Yemen Typica. The original goal of cultivating SL28 was to mass-produce coffee beans that combined high quality with resistance to pests and diseases.

Although SL28's later yields were not as high as expected, its copper-colored leaves and broad bean-shaped seeds offer wonderful sweetness, balance and complex, shifting flavors, along with prominent citrus and black plum characteristics. SL34, meanwhile, has flavors similar to SL28 but with more complex and varied acidity and a wonderful sweet finish, while being heavier, richer and cleaner in mouthfeel than SL28. SL34 carries French missionary, Bourbon and more Typica lineage. Its bean appearance is similar to SL28, but it is better adapted to sudden heavy rains. These two important varieties are what lead us to understand the unique Kenyan style: strong, rich fruit acidity, a rich mouthfeel and beautiful balance.

This Particular Kenyan Coffee

This Kenyan coffee comes from the Kabare Cooperative Society's Kongyu Processing Station in the Kirinyaga region of Kenya, using the Kenyan double-washed method. It grows on the eastern slopes of the Kenyan mountains in Manyata-Embu County at altitudes of 1550-1750 meters. The varieties are the classic Kenyan SL28 and SL34. Combined with the large temperature difference between day and night and Kenya's red phosphoric soil, sweet and sour notes become the main flavor profile of this Kenyan coffee.

The fresh coffee cherries of this batch of Kongyu AA are picked and processed by 250 farmers from the Kongyu Processing Station under the Kabare Farmer Cooperative Society. After being pulped, fermented and washed with water from the nearby Kongyu River, the coffee is placed on African drying beds. During each harvest season, the farmers process nearly 300 tons of fresh coffee cherries. After processing, the coffee enters the weekly coffee auction held every Wednesday in Nairobi. Once it is selected by an authorized exporter, it ships to consumer markets around the world.

Tasting Notes

With previous Kenyan coffees we especially loved chasing those angular, powerful fruit acids, but this one made me feel gentleness, like facing the sea with a soft breeze blowing.

Flavor description: strong lemon and plum aromas in both the dry and wet stages. Light-roasted and sipped, it presents surprising floral and lemon aromas along with the juicy sweet-and-sour taste of grapefruit green tea and citrus juice. Increasing the roast degree slightly immediately brings out flavors of honey and raspberry black plum. The aftertaste offers the pleasant sweet-and-sour taste of green tea.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kenya's double-washed process is what gives this Kongyu AA its clarity, and if that clean, juicy style is what you enjoy, FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Cherry Tomato is one of the best-known expressions of it. Kenya excels at the double-washed method, running the beans through a second washing cycle - washing away the mucilage left on the surface, soaking them again, then drying and hulling - to push the juice sensation as far as it will go. The cup carries cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear, black plum and yellow sugar aromas, with a sweet-and-sour, juicy mouthfeel that has made it a favorite among seasoned coffee drinkers.

If you want a different flavor from the same processing family, FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Gudingding Cooperative uses the washed process to bring out jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity to the fullest, and after a light-medium roast the coffee opens into green tea and honey notes that suit pour-over, cold brew and espresso alike. And for a softer, more rounded washed profile, FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 shows how the method protects aroma and keeps defect rates low, delivering a balanced cup of hazelnut, cream, chocolate and caramel with no single note crowding out the rest.