Kenya Guama

This is from the Baragwi Farmer's Cooperative in the Kirinyaga region, and they take their coffee up to the Guama factory to be washed. The Guama factory is near Mt. Kenya (tallest mountain in the country), and uses fresh river water from the mountain. So it has those two things going for it. This is only SL-28 and SL-34 varietals which have that black currant, red wine taste that you find in the classic legendary Kenya coffees and effervescent acidity. The varietals are low-producing and hard to grow, but the farmers who grow them are well-rewarded for their effort, as you can see in the price for this coffee.

This bean is pretty easy to roast but the landing can be tricky. What I try for is about 30 seconds past the end of the 1st cracks. If you're a couple degrees too light, you get more savory flavors, but if you get it past that, you get the red wine, blackberry, currant, juicy Kenya that I love and look for every year. And if you accidentally go a few degrees too dark you get less juiciness and the flavors flatten out. But right at the sweet spot you will taste a coffee that starts with tart currant/blackberry, turns into juicy red raspberry and has that Kenya acidic sparkle dancing on your tongue, and then it ends with a tart grape dryness much like a dry white wine feels in your mouth. 

This is a really top lot of Kenya and it's hard not to smile while you're drinking it.

US Arrival June 2020