How Does Kenya Coffee's Double Washed Process Shape the Cup?

Kenya coffee is grown on volcanic plateau soils at 1,600 to 2,100 meters and is known for bright fruit acidity and a full berry-like body that coats the mouth, closer to tomato juice than the clean profile of many Ethiopian beans. The SL-28 and SL-34 varieties and the K72 double washed method, which includes a long soak after fermentation, largely define that character.

Pour-over suits these beans because it lets the berry sweetness and juicy texture come through without muting the acidity. Cool the brew over ice for an iced pour-over that keeps the fruit notes sharp, and follow the extraction steps and ratios in the full guide so the cup stays balanced rather than thin or harsh.

Kenyan coffee is renowned for its bright, uplifting fruit acidity and full, substantial berry mouthfeel, making it a classic representative among African specialty beans. This article will start with Kenya's growing terroir and the SL-28 and SL-34 varieties, provide a detailed analysis of how its signature K72 double washed processing method shapes the flavors in the cup, and, combined with Front Street Coffee's brewing experience, share extraction approaches for Kenyan coffee and the specific steps for iced pour-over, helping you better present this bean's berry sweetness and acidity along with its juicy texture.

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Kenyan coffee's bright, uplifting fruit acidity and vivid, full-bodied mouthfeel often leave a deep impression on those who have tasted it. Front Street has cupped quite a few beans from different producing regions in Kenya. If high acidity is the soul of a good cup of coffee, then Kenya is perhaps the typical embodiment of that soul. Kenyan coffee beans also have another distinctive trait: most coffee beans with bright acidity usually do not have a substantial mouthfeel. Ethiopian beans, for example, have a clean and refreshing profile on the palate, while Kenyan coffee can deliver a berry juice sensation that coats the entire mouth, similar to tomato juice.

Kenyan Coffee Growing

Kenya is located in eastern Africa, with the equator crossing its central region and the East African Rift Valley running north to south through the country. It borders Somalia to the east, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, Ethiopia and Sudan to the north, and faces the Indian Ocean to the southeast. Most of the country is plateau, with an average elevation of about 1,500 meters. Mount Kirinyaga (Mount Kenya) in the center has an elevation of 5,199 meters, with snow on its summit year-round, making it the second-highest peak in Africa.

Kenya is a tropical producing region with two rainy seasons a year, so it can also harvest two seasons, with 60% concentrated from October to December and the other 40% from June to August. Coffee is mainly grown in the volcanic zone at elevations of 1,600-2,100 meters from the capital Nairobi to the area around the Kenyan mountains. Such altitude is beneficial to the development of coffee bean flavor because lower temperatures in the mountains slow the growth rate, allowing the aromatic components of the coffee beans to accumulate fully, making the fruit acidity more prominent and the texture harder. This fertile coffee zone, shaped like a crescent moon, is the main producing area for Kenya's specialty beans.

Amid the specialty coffee wave, coffee varieties are regarded as an important factor affecting the flavor in the cup. The flavor performance of Kenyan coffee is inseparable from the two varieties SL-28 and SL-34.

SL stands for Scott Labs. In the 1930s, the laboratory was commissioned by the Kenyan government to conduct coffee breeding and classification research, with the goal of finding varieties that could adapt to Kenya's terroir, be suitable for large-scale cultivation, and have commercial value. SL-28 and SL-34 are two of the many research results.

Kenyan coffee belongs to the African producing regions. High-quality Kenyan coffee beans are basically all processed using the washed method, and delicate roasting can better showcase the region's distinctive lemon, citrus, and grapefruit flavors, with a refreshing mouthfeel and a slight sweet-and-sour quality.

Kenya's uniquely distinctive processing method is called "double washed" or "K72" washed processing, referring to coffee beans undergoing two fermentations. The Kenyan double fermentation processing flow is: flotation of coffee cherries, removal of pulp, fermentation in the upper layer of the fermentation tank overnight, washing, parchment beans placed into the lower fermentation tank to continue fermenting for 36 hours, washing, and sun drying.

The washing channels for the double fermentation method are divided into upper and lower levels, used respectively for the first and second washing. After harvesting, defective cherries and cherries with insufficient density are first removed. After the skin is removed, the beans are poured into the upper fermentation tank for fermentation, or dry fermentation without putting them into a tank can also be used directly. The time required for fermentation is related to many factors; the hotter the environment, the faster the fermentation. After fermenting for a period, washing removes most of the mucilage, and then the beans are placed into the lower clean water tank for a second fermentation. It is worth noting that during fermentation, the circulating water needs to be changed every few hours to prevent the coffee beans from becoming foul-smelling.

The coffee beans are washed with water again to remove residual mucilage. The second fermentation plus rinsing takes 36 hours, but this is not the end. If the coffee beans soak for too long during fermentation, negative flavors will increase. Once it exceeds 36-72 hours, over-fermentation may occur, and fatty acids may be produced, causing the coffee to taste too sour. Therefore, this process takes about 12 hours or more, which means Kenyan washing takes at least 48 hours, and even as long as 72 hours.

Kenya's distinctive double fermentation washed method raises the original acidity and cleanliness, because during the fermentation process of washed processing, the acetic acid concentration of the coffee beans increases, thereby enhancing the coffee flavor.

Kenya's unique washed processing, followed by appropriate roasting, yields very obvious berry-type flavors. A coffee from the Asalia processing plant at Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) shows very obvious blackcurrant, grapefruit, and slight cherry tomato flavors. High-quality Kenyan coffee is mostly based on pronounced acidity, with an uplifting acidic quality.

If you like berry-like acidity, Front Street's Little Tomato coffee beans are usually recommended. This is a classic Kenyan single-origin coffee. It not only uses K72 washed processing, but its varieties consist of SL28 and SL34, and it comes from Thika, a highly representative high-altitude producing region locally. When Front Street uses a medium-light roast, it shows dense and full berry flavors and fragrant floral notes, as well as a cherry tomato flavor running throughout, making it suitable for extraction by multiple methods.

What kind of coffee is Kenyan coffee suitable for making?

As just introduced, high-quality Kenyan coffee mostly has obvious acidity, lingering berry flavors, and uplifting acidity, so Kenya is very suitable for enthusiasts who like coffee with acidity. Also because of its obvious acidity, Kenya is especially suitable for making iced drinks, such as iced pour-over, cold drip, cold brew, and so on.

How do you brew iced pour-over coffee?

Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) approach to brewing iced pour-over coffee is: extract a low-ratio coffee liquid (high concentration) and dilute it with ice cubes.

The coffee dose is 15 g of grounds, the grounds-to-water ratio is 1:10, the ice amount is 75 g, the water temperature is 92°C, and the grind setting is medium-fine (EK43s setting 9.5, 80% passing through a 0.85 mm sieve).

First, put 75 g of ice cubes into the server, then pour 15 g of ground coffee into the dripper and gently level it. For the first pour, use a small flow of 3-4 ml/s from the center outward in a small spiral to pour 30 g of hot water and bloom for 30 seconds; after 30 seconds, pour the second stage of 60 g of water using the same technique, taking care not to raise the water level too high, as this can easily cause under-extraction; when the coffee liquid is about to run dry, pour all of the remaining 60 g of hot water at a flow rate of 3 ml/s, ensuring the extraction time falls within 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes.

The ice molds we usually use at home are mainly spherical and square, and because they use static freezing, they are both solid ice. In the same shape, the larger the volume, the slower it melts, though the corresponding freezing time is also longer. In addition, ice that has been refrozen has higher hardness, and when put into coffee it cools more effectively than fresh ice just frozen and immediately unmolded.

For friends who like to drink iced coffee at home, Front Street suggests choosing slightly larger ice cube trays when buying them, or a single large spherical mold, so the ice made is firmer. If the ice tray you are currently using is on the small side, you can unmold the ice cubes in advance and store them in a clean container to keep the ice harder.

Next, pour the extracted coffee liquid into the ice cubes and shake to mix. Cover the sharing pot with its lid: on the one hand, this reduces the volatilization of aroma molecules, and on the other hand, it allows the coffee liquid to be poured out without ice cubes mixed in.

Because iced pour-over coffee is a low-ratio extracted coffee liquid diluted with ice cubes, at the beginning it is a relatively concentrated coffee liquid with a full and solid mouthfeel. As the ice cubes melt and dilute it, the mouthfeel tends to become smoother and more mellow, and the flavor shifts from complex to refreshing.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.