KENYA Kiangoi AB

The arrival of coffees from Kenya this year were delayed by a couple weeks in comparison to years past. Because of this delay, we worked to fast track this release. In setting a roast profile for a Kenya there is always a lot of personal ideations projected onto the coffee. This is because coffees from Kenya have such a reputation and character. This character typically falls into three main categories: savory (think tomato), tart (grapefruit and cranberry), or black currant, dark tea and brown sugars. For this profile we were able to convince the coffee to yield pleasant tart notes with a hint of citrus zest and a dark, rich sweetness. We brought in this coffee from the Kiangoi Factory through Red Fox Coffee Merchants, who do a wonderful job of sourcing delicious coffees from East Africa.
With 950 members, Kiangoi factory has high quality control standards that shine through in the end cup. The area (part of the larger Kirinyaga region) experiences a biennial production cycle with the early harvest being from April to June and the late second season being from October to December. The main coffee varieties grown are SL28, SL34 and Ruiru 11, with SL28 and SL34 accounting for 99% of all coffee produced while Ruiru 11 accounts for 1% of production.