Kenya Kirinyaga Kainamui AA Top Grainpro

I had the fun of camping with my daughter’s class at Plumas-Eureka State Park this week. It was a great time of being outdoors, hiking, walking in the creek (brrr!), and building crew. Camping as a class certainly causes the students to learn to work together, in a very hands on manner. It was a joy to see them helping each other. I particularly liked watching them problem solve how to build a shelter in the woods with limited time and resources.

After our hike up to Grass Lake

Today was back to work for me, with a bit of catch up after a few days off. It’s amazing how those emails pile up. I am so lucky that Becky is back from maternity leave, and that she can stay on top of a lot of the office work while I am gone. Although I did miss my daily baby visits.

This week we have our Kenya Kirinyaga Kainamui AA Top Grainpro–but that’s rather an excessive name, don’t you think? Let’s call it Kenya AA. This Kenya is grown in the Kirinyaga region, south of Mount Kenya. It is fully washed and processed at the Kainamui factory, or mill, and packaged in Grainpro bags–inside of the usual burlap.

Kenya has a unique system for processing coffee. There are mills, or factories, all over the country, and small farmers are arranged into cooperatives to bring their coffee to market. In the country of Kenya, coffee is sold weekly at auction, overseen by a national coffee board. You can read more about it in the Coffee Review, here. It has been a successful system for many years, rewarding the best coffees with high prices.

This Kenya AA is a blend of two Arabica cultivars: SL28 and SL34. These are both plants that were developed by Scott Laboratories (SL) at the behest of the Kenyan government from the 1930’s to 1950’s (see article here, and many other places online). They were looking for drought and disease resistant coffees, and instead came up with an amazing flavor profile that is the reason for much of Kenya’s renown.

This is a beautiful bean in the cup. It has a sweet floral aroma, and tastes of melon tones with a pronounced lemon acidity. You can try a cup on us with the code Kenya cultivars* this week. Bonus points if you can remember what the two cultivars are called. Enjoy your September, and drink good coffee. Cheers!
–Holly Fike

*Code good for one free 12 ounce cup of Kenya AA. Code expires on 9.15.16. Limit one free cup per customer please. Valid only at Carolines Coffee Roasters, 128 S. Auburn Street, Grass Valley, CA. Code/Offer has no cash value.