Kirinyaga - Kenya - Light

$22.00

Kenya’s has a reputation for being the favorite coffee growing region of many coffee professionals. Why? One word: Acidity. To be clear, acidity in coffee does NOT refer to that feeling in your gut when you’ve had your 8th cup. No. That’s something else. Acidity as a tasting term is the crisp, zingy characteristic found most commonly in lighter roast coffees. If that still doesn’t clear it up, think about the difference between a fresh strawberry and a cooked or sadder, (wiser?) slightly older strawberry. That zing is acidity. And the traditional varietals and environmental conditions of Kenya bring out a distinct and highly sought-after acidity in the coffee.

This year’s crop from Kirinyaga is outstanding. Dripping with notes of boysenberry syrup, gingersnap cookie and wildflower honey, this coffee thrives on a paper-filter brewer. The acidity sings. I’ve been enjoying it on the Fellow Stagg X brewer and as v60. Recipes below!

Roast Level: Light

Process: Washed

Variety: Batian, SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11

Cooperative: Inoi Cooperative - Kerugoya AB

Recipe | Ratio:

  • Stagg X - 15:1

    • 17g coffee, 3× 85g pours of water, 35s bloom

  • v60 - 16:1

    • 25g coffee, 400g water

    • 70g, 45s bloom

    • 330g pour over 45s,

    • 2:15 spin

Grind:
Weight:

Kenya’s has a reputation for being the favorite coffee growing region of many coffee professionals. Why? One word: Acidity. To be clear, acidity in coffee does NOT refer to that feeling in your gut when you’ve had your 8th cup. No. That’s something else. Acidity as a tasting term is the crisp, zingy characteristic found most commonly in lighter roast coffees. If that still doesn’t clear it up, think about the difference between a fresh strawberry and a cooked or sadder, (wiser?) slightly older strawberry. That zing is acidity. And the traditional varietals and environmental conditions of Kenya bring out a distinct and highly sought-after acidity in the coffee.

This year’s crop from Kirinyaga is outstanding. Dripping with notes of boysenberry syrup, gingersnap cookie and wildflower honey, this coffee thrives on a paper-filter brewer. The acidity sings. I’ve been enjoying it on the Fellow Stagg X brewer and as v60. Recipes below!

Roast Level: Light

Process: Washed

Variety: Batian, SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11

Cooperative: Inoi Cooperative - Kerugoya AB

Recipe | Ratio:

  • Stagg X - 15:1

    • 17g coffee, 3× 85g pours of water, 35s bloom

  • v60 - 16:1

    • 25g coffee, 400g water

    • 70g, 45s bloom

    • 330g pour over 45s,

    • 2:15 spin

Inoi is a cooperative located in Kirinyaga county. After the cherries are collected, they are meticulously hand-sorted, depulped, and fermented overnight to remove the mucilage. The seeds are then sorted again into grades, and dried for 10-20 days. The cherry skins left from depulping are distributed back to the producers to be mixed with manure and become fertilizer. 

Coffees in “parchment” - a dry husk that expands and separates from the coffee seed (read: bean). Here the coffee is drying in raised beds, enabling more even drying. Kenyan women urn the coffees over nonetheless to help facilitate the process.


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