TASTING NOTES

Coffee tasting notes for Kamwangi, Kenya: caramel, lime, lemon, tangy, peach pastry, fruit juice, green tea, green mango, candied berry, earthy

COFFEE BACKGROUND

The Blueprint Coffee Boutique Series is a selection of offerings highlighting noteworthy partners around the globe. The Boutique Series features special varieties, unique processing methods, prestigious origin farms, and partnerships creating impacts on sustainability in the coffee industry. Because of their unique qualities, these offerings are available in limited releases. It’s a one-of-a-kind flavor experience our team has selected to showcase all the things we love most about coffee.

Most farmers in Kenya own only ⅛-¼ of a hectare and grow other crops besides coffee. These smallholders rely on community factories and cooperatives to process and sell their smaller lots of coffee. (A “factory” is what Kenyans call a centralized washing station.)

The Kamwangi factory is owned and managed by the New Ngariama Farmers Cooperative Society, which has operated in the Kirinyaga region of central Kenya since 1997. The rich volcanic soil and high elevation of the area helps produce high quality, fruit-forward coffee. About 985 active members deliver coffee to the factory, with each farmer owning an average of 200-250 coffee trees. Members deliver their cherries to the Kamwangi factory, who sorts and weighs the coffee and issues payments for the delivery.

The day’s deliveries are blended and processed. First factory workers depulp the coffee and ferment it in tanks for 24-28 hours. Then they wash it thoroughly using water channels before soaking it underwater for 12-72 hours. This extra soak after washing is unique to Kenyan coffee processing. The coffee then dries on traditional beds for 9-13 days, with factory workers rotating it constantly until moisture content reaches 11-13%. Finally the coffee rests in conditioning bins, homogenizing the moisture content and stabilizing the parchment coffee.

We’re excited to bring a Kenyan coffee back to our lineup for the first time in several years. This coffee offers a uniquely earthy and fruit-forward profile that’s hard to replicate, with notes of caramel, tangy citrus, peach pastry, and green tea.