Kenya Kirinyaga Thirikwa Peaberry

Description

A great example of a Kirinyaga Kenya – more spicy than most with a bit fuller body and just a hint less acidity than your traditional cup.

Thirikwa FCS has been turning heads with record breaking auction prices at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange. Members of the cooperative have also been celebrating with higher prices earned per pound for cherry, 10 times the average price paid for cherry and the highest prices paid anywhere in Kenya.

The Gakuyu-ini factory processes cherry for 1,600 members who cultivate around 250 coffee trees on half-acre plots in the fertile foothills of Mount Kenya. With the harvest coming from small parcels, cherry classification is the most critical variable for ensuring cup quality. Small plots and high prices per pound give these producers more control to strategically pick and deliver only the ripest cherry to the factory. Additional hand sorting and floating to remove less dense beans also happens at the factory before the coffee is depulped, fermented and washed. After the coffee is washed, it’s soaked in fresh water for long periods of time to solidify the hallmark Kenyan profiles. 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.

Tasting Notes: Classic and clean Kenyan coffee. Much of the coffee industry considers Kenyan coffee top of the food chain and one can see why in a cup like this. So many cool tones and flavor diversity. To some cups like these are flavor overloads, to others, they wonder why would one drink anything else. Light roasts are pretty front-loaded with bright and lemony floral tones but it does have some balance at the light roast points – only take it here if you like acidity. Medium roasts bring out a bit of caramel and balance out of cup properties, very tasty. A bit of floral acidity still but not overwhelming while the spice notes comes mostly in the aftertaste. Darker roasts get much lower acidity and give roasty and robust dark chocolate like tones with a spice accent, a bit smokier in the aftertaste.

Roasting Notes: Generally best in the light to strong medium roast range. Setup greatly helps smooth out some of the acidity and brighter notes. Light roasts are tasty but very acidic. A fun coffee to play around with roast, a very different tasting cup from light to dark.

Kirinyaga coffee always holds a special place in my heart. My earliest coffee memories involved Kirinyaga coffee. Garry (well before Burman Coffee was in existence) was always a coffee head, I remember helping my mother make him pour overs of his favorite brew when I was only a couple feet tall. Golden Kirinyaga coffee from Victor Allen was his premium special coffee, not an everyday item, but one for special occasions. Even back then Kenyans were very expensive and rarer coffees. I remember the first fathers day I was actual able to buy him something myself from saved money, it was a bag of Golden Kirinyaga coffee. We later worked with Victor on/off with Burman Coffee over numerous coffees and origins (including Kirinyaga) but unfortunately Victor left this world late last year. Here is a cup to you Mr. Allen!