Kenya Premium Muranga – New Kiriti – Gondo Peaberry

Description

The Gondo mill has been one of our favorite Kenyan offerings for the last 3-4 seasons, great example of what Kenyan coffee should taste like. Crisp, clean floral, sweet, spicy and exotic! Located in the Muranga growing region along the Aberdare Mountain range on rich red volcanic soil, the areas surrounding the Gondo factory are ideal for producing some of the finest Kenyan coffee.

Individual farmers in these fertile foothills typically harvest from around 250 coffee trees on half-acre plots and deliver cherry to the Gondo factory, which is one of 3 factories managed by an umbrella farmers’ cooperative society (FCS) called the New Kiriti Farmers’ Cooperative Society. At the Gondo factory only the ripest cherries are delivered, and additional hand sorting and floating is done to remove less dense and damaged beans 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: A great more sizzling (high acidity) Kenya coffee. Lighter roasts will show strong lemony floral acidity, sweet edged but almost enough to pucker up if super light, balanced with some hints of the classic spicy (slight tea like herbal) chocolate notes. If super light roasted, very cool acidity but a little underdeveloped in the aftertaste, city roast is perfect for the lighter roast fans. Pushing to a medium roast will greatly reduce the acidity in the cup but still give a very buzzy mouthfeel. Medium bodied and smooth with lots of exotic hints popping out in the cup to let you know its a Kenyan coffee. Darker roasts get much stronger, considered a delicate cup until you hit 2nd crack which will add a full body and more bittersweet  dark tones with some excellent depth of flavor. Holds the darker roasts very nicely but almost a shame to roast out the wonderful acidity of the cup.

Roasting Notes: Easy to roast, medium chaff level and pretty even roasting. One can notice a bean or two a bit lighter but nothing like a natural or honey processed. Lighter roasts would be considered high acidity, darker roasts medium to low acidity.