September Kenya Kianyangi AA Whole Bean

8.8oz / 250g Whole Bean
Notes: Black Currant, Black Tea, Stonefruit, Citric Acidity, Silky Body
Region: Kirinyaga
Producer: Kianyangi
Varietal: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, Batian
Process: Washed
Elevation: 1700 - 1990 m
 
From September:
 
"This is our first year working with this Kianyangi lot. Located in Embu County from the Murue Farmer Cooperative Society, this Kenyan coffee is juicy and bright with a distinct currant and black tea profile.
 
In the cup we get a bright currant profile that reminds us of black currant and black tea. We get a juicy citric acidity and stone fruit sweetness. This coffee has a clean finish and a silky body.
 
Producer
The Kianyangi factory receives ripe cherries from 950 smallholder farms in the Embu region. The coffees are graded and sorted by density twice before before going into fermentation and prior to being washed and soaked under the Gatomboya stream. The rich, volcanic soil and prime growing conditions make for this coffees complex, high quality acidity and intense, juicy sweetness.
 
Processing
After pulping, the coffee undergoes dry fermentation for 18-36 hours in concrete tanks under a shaded roof for controlled temperature. Following fermentation, the coffee is washed and undergoes further density-based grading in washing channels, sometimes followed by overnight soaking in clean water. The coffee is then sun-dried for 12 to 20 days on raised beds.
 
Variety
SL28 is among the most well-known and well-regarded varieties of Africa. It has consequently spread from Kenya, where it was originally selected in the 1930s, to other parts of Africa (it is important in Arabica-growing regions of Uganda, in particular) and now to Latin America. The variety is suited for medium to high altitudes and shows resistance to drought, but is susceptible to the major diseases of coffee. SL28 is notable for its rusticity—a quality meaning that it can be left untended for years or even decades at a time, and then return to successful production. There are SL28 trees in many parts of Kenya that are 60-80 years old and still productive. A variety resistant to coffee leaf rust and coffee berry disease created at the Coffee Research Station (CRS; now the Coffee Research Institute, CRI) in Ruiru, Kenya. Batian was released in Kenya in 2010. Batian was created via single-tree selections from fifth filial generations from the male parent of some Ruiru 11 progenies. Batian is a composite variety, mixing three different pure line varieties."