Many of our most expressive coffees hail from the African continent. Very few stand out quite like a Kenyan coffee does. The distinctive rich flavor of Kenyan coffee has us consistently striving to bring you, our Vigilante Familia, coffees from this region of the world.
Kenya has long been held as one of the most dependably delicious origins for specialty coffee. Not only is the terroir particularly well suited for growing delicious beans - deep volcanic soil, particularly high growing elevations, and dry weather all lead to slower growth, denser beans, and higher acidity - but the small-holder producer collectives have an established culture of meticulous care in picking and processing their coffees. With extremely few exceptions, the majority of coffees are processed using an exceptionally dialed-in version of the washed process. Here we have a great example of this expertise, a Peaberry selection coming from the Kiairia Factory washing station in Kiambu County, central Kenya. Contributing community small-holder farmers bring their handpicked, ripe cherries, which consist of the famous SL28 and SL34 varieties as well as the more disease-resistant Batian and Ruiru 11 varieties, to the Kiairia processing factory to undergo final processing. When the cherries arrive, they are sorted and pulped to remove the outer skin, fermented for 12 - 24 hours to remove mucilage, and then laid out to dry on raised drying beds under the watchful eye of staff, who regularly turn the coffee to ensure even drying over the next 7 to 14 days. A key difference in this coffee is the tiny peaberry shape of each bean. This is a coffee mutation in all coffee plants, where only one seed forms inside the coffee cherry rather than the typical two. These peaberry coffee beans are hand selected and are very even when roasting. As roasters, we especially appreciate the uniformity of these beans.
In the cup, this coffee has a sweet, malty fragrance, a molasses and brown sugar aroma, notes of sweet tomato, chocolate, a lingering flan sweetness, tropical fruit acidity, and a creamy body - all of the complexity that you should expect from a quality Kenyan brew!
How to Brew It:
This coffee will perform best using pour over methods for optimal flavor clarity, at a ratio of 1:15 coffee to water, and a brew temperature of 200-205 degrees.
