Kenya Karuthi AA
https://www.danelaw.coffee/shop/p/kenya-karuthi-aa
Kenyan coffees are rightly prized for their vibrant acidity, full body, high sweetness and characteristic flavours of blackberry, cherry and citrus. This example is from the Karuthi washing station, part of the Othaya Farmers Co-operative Society in Nyeri County.
I’ve always particularly enjoyed coffees from Nyeri, and with cool temperatures, fertile soil, seasonal rainfall and high altitude (this coffee is from 1845 metres above sea level) that really makes sense. The coffees in this area mature slowly too, giving particularly hard beans, which really suits my style of roasting.
To produce this coffee, the 378 farmer members of the co-operative will pulp their coffees before allowing them to ferment for 12-48 hours depending on the weather, then they will be washed to remove the last of the mucilage. After this, the beans are dried on raised African beds over the course of 2-3 weeks until the moisture level is about 12%. The co-op has a dry mill where the beans are rested in parchment for 3 weeks before hulling, cleaning and grading by size (AA is the largest regularly traded Kenyan bean. Size isn’t the most important thing though, it’s what you do with it, but this happened to be an especially tasty coffee!)
After grading the coffee is carefully hand picked to remove any missed defects and bagged up using a plastic sack liner to keep the coffee in peak condition.
This coffee will delight many people. Light, bight, sweet, fruity and delicious, with flavours of blackberry, lemon curd and dark chocolate. Don’t feel bad though if this isn't your favourite. some people prefer heavier, darker, more bitter-tasting coffees than this and that’s OK. If you know you like a Kenya though, You’ll LOVE this!