To be honest, Front Street is very fond of Kenyan coffee. If you're a regular at Front Street's café, you'll easily notice that among the many samples Front Street shares, Kenyan coffee appears very frequently.As for why we like it so much, Front Street believes this point is something we share with many enthusiasts.Because Kenyan coffee has a thick yet bright acidity, a high sweetness like sugarcane, and a distinctive flavor profile that exudes prominent, obvious notes of cherry tomato and smoked plum, making it highly recognizable.In the book "Coffeeology," Mr. Han Huaizong also used extremely high praise to describe Kenyan coffee: "If cupped alongside non-Geisha varieties from other producing countries, this coffee with its thick flavor spectrum will easily make coffees from other origins feel ashamed of themselves." This is enough to show that the deliciousness of Kenyan coffee is not without basis.But friends often say that although they've purchased Kenyan coffee, they can't brew out the deliciousness described by everyone. Either the cherry tomato flavor isn't very obvious, or the mouthfeel isn't full enough—in short, it just lacks that something.In such cases, besides improper brewing, it could also be because the wrong coffee beans were chosen, since not all coffee produced in Kenya carries the delicious flavors mentioned above.So today Front Street will share what kind of Kenyan coffee carries the characteristics of Kenyan coffee. And then how we should brew to dissolve these characteristics out of the coffee beans!First, we need to know that 30% of coffee flavor formation is influenced by the growing environment. And one of the factors that builds Kenyan coffee's thick acidity comes from Kenya's unique terroir.Kenya is located in eastern Africa, bordering famous coffee-producing regions such as Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Although they're on the same land, different terrain, climate, soil, and other environmental factors create very large differences in coffee flavor.Kenya has a tropical climate, located in low-latitude regions, with two concentrated rainy seasons each year and dry seasons the rest of the time. Due to its higher terrain, most areas have a tropical savanna climate, while coastal areas are more hot and humid.Kenyan coffee is mainly grown in volcanic areas at 1600m~2100m. The phosphate-rich volcanic soil is one of the reasons Kenyan coffee's acidity is brighter. In addition, high altitude widens the temperature difference between day and night, which slows down coffee growth, allowing it to generate and accumulate more sugars, making the coffee's aroma and mouthfeel fuller.In the 1930s, the Kenyan government commissioned the Scott Laboratories to conduct coffee breeding research in order to find coffee varieties that could adapt to Kenya's terroir, be grown on a large scale, and have commercial value. Ultimately, after more than a decade of research and selection, a series of coffee varieties with excellent flavor was successfully obtained.Among them, SL28 and SL34 are the legendary creators of Kenyan coffee's cherry tomato and smoked plum acidity.Before SL28 and SL34 were released, the coffee varieties introduced to Kenya included Bourbon, Kent, and Jamaica's Blue Mountain Typica. After SL28 and SL34 were released, new-generation varieties such as Ruiru11 and Batian appeared. Although they all have decent flavor performance, none have the distinctive yet balanced acidity of SL28 and SL34.The "SL" prefix of SL28 and SL34 is the abbreviation of Scott Laboratories「Scott Laboratories」, while 28 and 34 are their experimental numbers. SL28 is a Bourbon variant, and SL34 is a Typica variant. Without exception, they all have the distinctive acidity of smoked plum and cherry tomato.But unlike other varieties, besides rich aroma and prominent acidity, these two varieties also carry abundant sweetness. And it's precisely the presence of this sweetness that elevates the quality of the acidity, making their acidity more enticing while possessing richer layers. If you're interested in these two varieties, friends are welcome to check out"Kenya's Star Varieties"to learn more; Front Street won't elaborate further here.Besides the influence of variety and origin, Kenyan coffee's excellent performance is also inseparable from the local unique processing method. The most commonly used processing method for Kenyan coffee is washed, but what differs from washed processing in other origins is that Kenyan washed has a longer soaking fermentation time.The conventional washed processing flow is: after floating selection, the coffee cherries are depulped and demucilaged, then the coffee beans with mucilage and parchment are poured into a tank for soaking fermentation to remove mucilage. The soaking time is generally 24 hours, at most no more than 36 hours; after soaking is complete, the coffee beans are moved to a clean tank where workers stir them to remove residual mucilage; afterward, the beans are sent to drying beds to dry until they reach a certain moisture content, then the parchment layer can be removed by machine, and they're packaged for export.The difference between Kenyan washed processing and conventional washed is that the soaking time is much longer. Originally, because processing plants didn't have enough space to dry coffee beans, some beans that had already been demucilaged but had no place to dry would be poured back into the water tank to soak until the drying yard had space, and only then would they be sent for drying.Unexpectedly, this practice gave the coffee a cleaner, more outstanding flavor performance. So this distinctive washed processing method was retained and is still used today.Kenyan washed processing is also known as "K72"/"Kenyan-style 72-hour washed." As the name suggests, the washed fermentation time can reach up to 72 hours. Depending on the region, the processing method and time vary. The more common one is repeating the washing and soaking steps three times, each soaking for a full 24 hours, then washing and repeating the soak-wash cycle until 72 hours are reached. The remaining steps are no different from conventional washed processing. After completion, the beans are sent to drying yards for drying until they reach the specified moisture content, and they're ready for export.In summary, if we want to taste the stunning Kenyan characteristics from Kenyan coffee, then when selecting coffee beans we can limit our requirements to washed processed beans of the SL28 and SL34 varieties—for example, the Front Street Kenya · Cherry Tomato on Front Street's bean list, which is the best representative Front Street selected after cupping countless Kenyan coffee beans."It's also one of today's flash sale coffee beans"Front Street Coffee: Kenya · Asaliya
Region: Thika
Processing Plant: Asaliya Processing Plant
Altitude: 1550~1750m
Variety: SL28, SL34
Processing Method: Washed
Flavor: Smoked plum, cherry tomato, yellow sugar, black plum
In order to better highlight the acidity of cherry tomato and smoked plum while giving the coffee enough sweetness, Front Street chose a medium-light roast profile to prepare this Front Street Kenya · Cherry Tomato. Now Front Street will share how to brew the best flavor out of this Kenya · Cherry Tomato~ The extraction parameters are as follows:Grind Size: Ek43 setting 9.5, 75% passing rate through a No. 20 sieve, fine granulated sugar grindCoffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15Brewing Water Temperature: 92°CBrewing Method: Three-pourIn order to better dissolve the flavors out of the coffee, the first step of brewing is still blooming, the purpose being to release carbon dioxide stored in the coffee. Here we use twice the amount of water as the coffee dose(30ml)and bloom for thirty seconds.After blooming ends, we can begin pouring the second pour of hot water! Since this Front Street Kenya · Cherry Tomato isn't roasted too light, we can easily raise the coffee bed. Raising the coffee bed gives the coffee richer layers, so when pouring the second pour, we can slightly increase the flow rate, using a moderate stream to pour the second pour in large circles.The amount of water in this pour is 120ml, and the pouring time is about 30 seconds. After pouring ends, wait for the water to finish dripping through, then begin the third pour. At this point the time should be around 1 minute 20 seconds.(If the flow rate is faster, the third pour needs to use a smaller stream)The third pour is the same as previous brewing: use a small stream in small circles. The water in this pour is 75ml, taking about 20 seconds. Once the water is fully poured, we just wait for the coffee liquid to finish dripping, then remove the dripper and end extraction. Total time is 2 minutes.Before the coffee even touches our lips, we can sense a very obvious cherry tomato and smoked plum aroma from the wet fragrance. Upon tasting, it's like biting into a plump, juicy cherry tomato—a thick, round acidity full of cherry tomato flavor blossoms in the mouth. Because it carries abundant sweetness, this acidity isn't harsh. In addition, we also taste flavors of smoked plum, plum, and yellow sugar. After the temperature drops slightly, berry-type sweet and sour flavors emerge. Tasting it overall is like drinking a glass of freshly squeezed tomato juice—very rich in layers and quite excellent! The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
