If you like your coffee black, chances are you've already been entranced by a Kenyan roast... and if not, you're about to be. Kenyan coffees are a dream of flavor: unique among single origins with their sheer depth of flavor, their syrupy-smooth mouthfeel, their punchy, jammy fruitiness. Sometimes tart, sometimes dry, Kenyas are typically full of "purple fruit", plums and black currants and red grapes. Their flavors can veer into heady pinot noir territory, or include a dash of subtle spice and a twist of citrus for good measure. You sip a Kenya, a Kenya swallows you up.
This washed Kenyan roast definitely follows suit in the flavor department, but takes a turn for the magical with True North's unique roasting style. Maine Hofius once told me that she loves making pies and she loves roasting coffees that taste like pies and other desserts: rich and full of flavor, but with a sweet oven-baked toastiness. We love her coffees that remind us of pies, fudge, and sweet caramel, and we knew her touch on this roast would blow us away. In this cup, tart and juicy notes of sweet cranberry and red grape are wrapped in a blanket of rich caramel. A touch of pink grapefruit lingers in the finish like a ray of summer sunshine... and we thought summer was over!
This coffee is the perfect sunny, cozy brew for autumn: the cranberry notes have us looking forward to the holidays; the grapefruit has us nostalgic for summer; the caramel just wraps us right up. Enjoy this fantastic limited-edition Kenyan from True North and the premier coffee-growing region of Nyeri, Kenya.
Kenyan Nyeri Othaya Kiaguthu (Red Cherry Project AA) is sourced from family owned farms organized around the Kiaguthu Factory (wet mill) within the Nyeri growing region along the fertile foothills of the Aderdare mountain range. Farmers are members of Othaya Farming Cooperative Society, which has its own dry mill operation in Gatuyaini. Kenyan producers generally cultivate around 250 coffee trees on half-acre plots. With the harvest coming from small parcels, cherry classifications is the most critical variable for ensuring cup quality. Small plots give these producers more control to strategically pick and deliver only the ripest cherry to the factory. The Red Cherry Project institutes additional quality protocols to preserve the hallmark Kenyan profiles including post-harvest cherry sorting at the factory followed by cherry floating to remove less dense beans, 72 hour fermentation times, a 24 hour fresh water soak, wet parchment shade covered sorting to remove any beans damaged from depulping, sorting during the drying stage, storage in grainpro immediately after drying is complete, and hand sorting again after milling with immediate packaging in grainpro for export.
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