Kenya AA Grade Kirinyaga Region Karatina Cooperative Factory Premium Coffee Beans

This Kenya comes from the Kongyu Processing Station of the Kabare Farmers' Cooperative Society in Kenya's Kirinyaga region. Processed with the Kenyan double-washed method, it grows on the eastern slopes of the Kenya Mountains at an altitude of 1550-1750 meters in the Mathata-Embu County. The varieties are the classic Kenyan SL28 and SL34. Combined with the wide day-night temperature swings and Kenya's red phosphoric soil, sweet and sour notes became the primary flavor profile of this Kenyan coffee.

The cherries for this batch of Kongyu AA were harvested and processed by 250 smallholder farmers from the Kongyu Processing Station under the Kabare Farmers' Cooperative Society. After being pulped, fermented and washed with water from the nearby Kongyu River, the coffee is dried on African raised beds. In each harvest season, farmers process nearly 300 tons of coffee cherries. Once processing is complete, the coffee enters the weekly auction held every Wednesday in Nairobi. When selected by licensed exporters, it is shipped to consumer markets worldwide.

In previous Kenyan coffees, we particularly enjoyed chasing those strong, angular, powerful fruit acids. This particular Kenyan coffee, however, revealed a gentler side, like facing the sea with a gentle breeze blowing.

Flavor Profile

Intense lemon and plum aromas in both the dry and wet fragrance. Light-roasted and sipped, it reveals surprising floral and lemon notes along with the sweet-tart juiciness of grapefruit green tea and citrus juice. Roasted slightly darker, it immediately develops flavors of honey and raspberry-black plum. The finish brings the pleasant sweet-tart notes of green tea.

Product Information

Brand: FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)
Address: 10 Bao'an Qian Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)
Contact: 020-38364473
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Degree: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Kenya
Coffee Type: Other
Roast Level: Light roast

Coffee Details

Country: Kenya
Grade: AA
Region: Kirinyaga
Altitude: 1550-1750 meters
Soil: Red phosphoric soil
Processing Method: Kenyan double-washed processing
Varieties: SL 28, SL 34
Processing Station: Kongyu Processing Station
Producer: Kabare Farmers' Cooperative Society
Flavor Notes: Grapefruit green tea, citrus, raspberry-black plum

About Kenyan Coffee

Located in East Africa, Kenya is one of the world's major coffee-producing countries, with approximately six million people engaged in the coffee industry, mostly as smallholders and cooperatives.

Kenyan coffee trees are predominantly grown at altitudes between 1400 and 2000 meters. The growing regions include Ruiri, Thika, Kirinyaga, Mt. Kenya West, Nyeri, Kiambu and Muranga, primarily on the foothills of Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare range.

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

In 1930, Kenya's unique varieties SL28 and SL34, cultivated and named by "Scott Laboratories," were born in this favorable environment.

According to SL laboratory botanists, SL28 and SL34 are genetic variants. SL28 carries mixed lineage from French Mission, Mocha and Yemen Typica. The original goal in developing SL28 was to mass-produce beans that combined high quality with resistance to pests and disease.

Although SL28's yield later fell short of the expected high volume, its copper-colored leaves and broad bean shape produce wonderful sweetness, balance and complex, varied flavor, along with distinctive citrus and black plum characteristics. SL34 shares a similar flavor profile with SL28 but, in addition to complex, varied acidity and a wonderful sweet finish, has a heavier, richer and cleaner mouthfeel. SL34 carries French Mission, Bourbon and more Typica lineage. While similar in appearance to SL28, it adapts better to sudden heavy rains. It is these two important varieties that led us to understand the unique Kenyan style: intense, rich fruit acidity, full body and beautiful balance.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kenya AA's double wash is really an intensification of the washed method: the coffee is fermented and rinsed twice, which pushes the juice-like fruit character to its limit and leaves the cup clean and bright. If that style appeals to you, FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Little Tomato is the counterpart to this bean - a Kenya washed coffee built on vivid cherry tomato and dark plum acidity, with a full, juice-like body.

Washed processing generally keeps more of the bean's own aroma while bringing bright fruit acidity and a clean, fresh character, because the coffee spends time in water, which consumes much of the simple sugar and increases the organic acids. It is a useful lens on a region's flavor, and Yirgacheffe is the classic example: FrontStreet Coffee's washed cooperative lot from Yirgacheffe shows jasmine and bright citrus acidity most clearly, and after a medium-light roast it opens into green tea and honey notes.

Washed processing also shows up in unexpected places. Jamaica is an island climate with relatively short sunshine hours, so washing was adopted there to cut the risk of the beans spoiling; by removing skin, pulp and mucilage before drying, it shortens drying time and produces beans with a translucent color and a low defect rate. That is why FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 cups clean and even, with hazelnut, cream, chocolate and caramel and no single note dominating.

All three brew well in a V60 with water at 90-91°C, 15g of coffee and a 1:15 ratio, ground medium-fine and poured in three stages with a 30-second bloom.