Kenya Premium Embu – Kamwea Estate – Top Lot Peaberry

Description

A wonderful new crop arrival!

Embu is located in the foothills of Mount Kenya just northeast of Nairobi. The area is high in elevation, experiences two rainy seasons, and has rich soil serviced by six rivers. 80% of households work in agriculture. Thousands of small producers grow coffee and deliver it to hundreds of cooperatives for processing. The region produces 600,000kg of coffee per year,

Kamwea was started in 1960’s when the farmers were only allowed to plant 100 coffee trees. Located at Embu county one of the best coffee growing regions in Kenya.

Kamwea Coffee farm receives assistance from the Coffee Management Services (CMS) group, who are on the ground directly helping producers improve their productivity and quality through training and education programs. Their objective is to establish a transparent and trust-based relationship with their small-holder farmers and ensure sustained industry growth by helping producers improve their quality, which in turn improves the premiums paid and ultimately has a positive impact on their quality of life.

Tasting Notes: A crazy clean, fresh and bright Kenya coffee. Light to dark this will make a tasty cup. Full of citric and floral tones with small hints of a fruitiness, good body with some buzzy acidity that will tingle your tongue. Lighter roasts do have some lemony goodness but it’s crisp and defined, not quite mouth puckering. Hints of black tea spice with a small chocolaty factor are present even at lighter roasting and balance out the cup nicely. Sweet edged with some hints of a fruity factor between the lemony floral front end and chocolaty spice undertones. Medium roasts and smooth and accentuate the chocolaty factor, muting up most of the acidity, a very easy to drink cup. Darker roasts were equally as tasty and drinkable, retains it sweet edge and was not too roasty.

Roasting Notes: Like most stand-up lots, this coffee holds the lighter roasts very nicely but will have strong acidity – light roasts will only be for those who love the Kenyan acidity. As you slow down the roast or push it more to the medium mark, the cup balances out better yet still provides an exotic cup with clearly present acidity. The brighter tones will burn out around 2nd crack but the potency of the cup will only increase into the dark roasts.