Kii Dark
Impressions: raspberry jam, cacao, caramel, grapefruit
Roast degree: 3.5/5
Country: Kenya
Region: Ngariama, Kirinyaga County, Mount Kenya
Farmers: Rungeto Farmers Cooperative Society
Processing station: Kii factory
Variety: SL28 and SL34 (C grade)
Process: Washed
It feels so good to have coffee from Vava back on the menu. Kenya is always a special treat, and this time we bring you something that is not seen that often in the specialty coffee: a C grade.
The AA and AB lots have bigger beans and are the most sought after, but tasting blindly a table full of Kenyans, this C grade was actually our favourite! (if you prefer lighter roasts and drink mostly filter coffee, check our the Kii Light !)
One of the main things about the Kii washing station is consistency and quality. Year after year, this group of enthusiastic hard working farmers have created a reputation for themselves and the factory is one of the most highly sought after when it comes to quality lots.
It's not always easy to secure lots from Kii due to the high demand, but Vava has been working with them for the past 10 years and she usually gets a bunch of their top lots.
The Kii Factory, alongside the Rungeto Farmers Cooperative Society have been building their strong reputation for quality since 1953, and Vava strongly believes that the factory produces some of the best lots in all of Kirinyaga.
In 2009 Vava Angwenyi made the decision to create real change in the Kenyan Coffee industry. Between the challenges of poverty, corruption and fear, she saw smiles. She saw smallholder coffee farmers that wanted to change their lives but could not get their voices heard.
Vava Specialty Coffee is a social enterprise in Nairobi that seeks to cause positive social and economic disruption within the coffee industry and create sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farmers.
Kenyan coffees are beautiful, and this darker roast will make this lot from the Kii factory much more enjoyable with milk or as an espresso. The norm in specialty coffee is definitely to roast Kenyan coffees lighter (we do have a Kii Light so make sure to check it out if it's your vibe) but those medium+ roast are just so delicious and sweet.
You can expect big jammy fruit from this roast, think raspberry. It also make the coffee super sirupy with a long aftertaste.
The cacao and caramel notes, sometime subtle in lighter roasts, truly shine here. This coffee is intensely sweet and holds milk super well.
There is a slight grapefruit bitter note in the finish that makes this coffee very interesting as well.
|
Method |
Dose | Ratio | Time |
| Espresso | 18 g | 2,1:1 | 28-32 sec |
| Espresso with milk | 18g | 1,9:1 | 32-35 sec |
| Americano | 18 g | 2.1:1 | 28-34 sec |
|
V60/Origami |
23 g | 15:1 | 2:45-3:15 min |
|
Chemex & Batch Brew |
40-60 g | 14.5:1 | 3:45-4:30 min |
|
French Press |
18-25 g | 14:1 | 3:30 min steep time |
Farmers: Rungeto Farmers Cooperative Society
Exporter: Vava Coffee
Importer: Sustainable Harvest
Price paid by us to Sustainable Harvest for the landed coffee to our roastery: 14.00CAD/kg (including shipping, customs and financing costs)
FOB price: The price paid to Vava Coffee before it departed origin: 11CAD/kg
Farmgate price: around 120 Kenyan Chillings (KES) per kg of cherry.
One thing that is hard to navigate while buying Kenyan coffees are the export rules and the auction system.
The export license are limited and almost all coffee needs to pass by an auction. The AA and AB lots will always fetch more, and by default, the C grade, no matter how tasty, are always getting paid less.
It's still important to buy the C lots because otherwise, they will receive a penny on the dollar on the internal market.