Kenya Muranga
Our current Kenya offering is grown in a unique pocket of Kenya. Western Muranga County runs directly into the upland Aberdare Mountain range on rich red volcanic soil ideal for producing some of Kenya’s best coffees.
The Aberdare range contributes significant climate influence over this part of Muranga, keeping the vegetation cooler and well-respirated. Coffees from this region tend to be rich and tangy, with syrupy texture and tart stone fruit notes.
Individual farmers in these fertile foothills average 250 coffee trees each, and half-acre plots per family.
Kenya is of course known for some of the most meticulous at-scale processing that can be found anywhere in the world. Bright white parchment, nearly perfectly sorted by density and bulk conditioned at high elevations is the norm, and a matter of pride, even for generations of Kenyan processing managers who prefer drinking Kenya’s tea (abundantly farmed in Muranga county) to its coffee. Ample water supply in the central growing regions has historically allowed factories to wash, and wash, and soak, and wash their coffees again entirely with fresh, cold river water, according to tradition.
Cherries are hand-sorted for ripeness and floated for density before being accepted and depulped each day. After the coffee is washed, it’s soaked in fresh water for long periods of time to stop sugar fermentation and clean the parchment. The coffee is dried over a period of two weeks on raised beds, which are carefully constructed to ensure proper air circulation and temperature control for optimal drying.
Roasted lighter to keep the nuanced flavor of Lemon, Blueberry, Tamarind and Black Currant, we recommend brewing at a slightly higher temperature; between 203-205 degrees, and at a 1/15 ratio in order to extract the full potential of the coffee. Check out our pour-over brew tutorial here.
Variety: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, and Batian
Processing: Washed
Altitude: 1900 masl
Coffee Grading: AA
Roast Level: Light