Coffee from Kenya
Kenyan coffee is world-renowned and characterized by strong, beautiful flavors, which are sure to lure you into loving it. In a world where many coffee drinkers enjoy their beverage with sugar, milk and other syrups added, we challenge you to give a try to simple, black coffee from Kenya if you haven't yet and discover how flavorful it can be. If we made you even just a little bit curious as to how it came around and why it is so valued, you can find answers to all of your questions below.
Origins
Even though it is a neighboring country to Ethiopia, where many claims are the motherland for coffee, Kenya didn't cultivate it up until 1893, when sources claim that the French Holy Ghost Fathers (a male religious congregation of the Catholic Church), introduced the trees from Reunion Island.
What makes it famous?
Kenyan coffee takes a place in the top five coffees in the whole world. That is quite an achievement, so how did it come to this? Well, the quality of these arabica beans is astonishing, with a rich body, delightful and complex aromas, high acidity, and intense flavor. The most distinctive thing about them is the berry undertones, like black currant. The beans can also be quite sweet, which is something you can't necessarily find easily.
Another fact is that they have SHG/SHB status. In translation, Strictly High Grown and Strictly Hard Bean, which are an aspect of coffee grade and mean that they are grown at altitudes between 1400 and 2000 meters. This allows the beans to develop at a slow pace, embodying more nutrients.
How are they processed?
Kenyan coffee beans are wet-processed, which means that the bean is removed from its outer shell when it is still green and unroasted and the fruit is freshly harvested and still moist. This type of processing is usually chosen because after it is brewed, coffee that originates from wet-processed beans tends to offer a much cleaner taste and also feel thinner in the mouth. Also, in the case of Kenyan coffee, it encapsulates their famous high acidity.
Kenyan Coffee Varietals?
If you either heard this term before, but never knew what it meant, or this is your first time encountering it, we will describe it for you.
The word ”varietal” is borrowed from the culture of wine. When it is used in the coffee world, it means all the different types of coffee you can create from a single type of bean, with a variation in quality. These are the following:
- SL 28: it refers to medium to high elevation coffee, which doesn't need much rain
- SL 34: similar to the previous, but with more rain needed
- K7, Ruiru 11, Batian: more recent varietals, they are not as high in quality as the SLs, but they have stronger immunity against disease
Kenyan Coffee Bean Grades?
These grades are given to the beans before they undergo the roasting process, in order to categorize them by size. This happens because, in order to roast evenly, the beans need to be similar. From largest to smallest, they are Kenya E (Elephant Bean), Kenya PB (Peaberry), Kenya AA, Kenya AB, Kenya C, Kenya TT, Kenya T, Kenya MH/ML.
What Do Kenyans Drink?
Surprisingly, not the coffee they produce. Even though they are famous for it and they have coffee-drowned Ethiopia as their neighbor, the people there usually drink tea and consume only about a fraction of their production. Well, what can we say? This leaves more for us!
Speaking of production, another reason why this coffee is in such high demand is that it is actually not in high quantities. There are only about 150.000 hectares of plantable land of fertile volcanic soil where coffee can grow in just a few areas: Ruiri, Thika, Muranga, Kiambu, Mt. Kenya West, Nyeri, and Kirinyaga.
If you are still skeptical, we kindly invite you to try this magic drink yourself and make the decision. The coffee there is not only highly qualitative, but it also keeps the economy of Kenya running, as many people have a job there simply because of the coffee industry. So it isn't only you who has something to earn!