Black currants, raspberries, and blackberries. This washed Kenyan coffee from the Polish roaster HAYB tastes a bit like a handful of wild berries crushed into a juicy lemonade. The black currants give it a more pronounced tartness, the raspberries add a lighter, fruity freshness, and the blackberries contribute a slightly darker, sweeter note. The flavors alternate nicely on the palate, so the coffee doesn’t come across as monotonous or overly intense. It’s neither heavy nor wild, but rather clean, juicy, and pleasantly straightforward. It’s exactly the kind of Kenyan coffee you’ll enjoy most when brewed with a filter, where its fruitiness and fresh character really shine.
The coffee comes from the Kiambu region, which lies between Mount Kenya and the Aberdare Mountains. Coffee trees of the Batian, SL28, SL34, and Ruiru 11 varieties grow here at an elevation of 1,400 to 1,600 meters. Ripe coffee cherries are brought to the Gititu processing station by approximately 800 small-scale farmers, each of whom tends to an average of just 300 coffee trees. Gititu is one of four stations owned by the Aguthi Farmers Cooperative Society. Working together helps farmers better monitor the quality of their harvest and receive fairer compensation for their work.
The coffee was processed using the washed method, in which the skin and most of the pulp are removed before drying. As a result, the final cup has a clean, fresh profile, and the individual fruity notes remain clearly distinguishable. With Gititu, the juicy black currants, raspberries, and sweeter blackberries can truly shine without their flavors blending into a single heavy fruit profile. The station also strives to minimize the impact of processing on the surrounding landscape. It uses special filtration tanks that prevent wastewater from mixing with clean water sources and help protect the local environment. The result is a clean and distinctly fruity Kenyan coffee, made possible by the work of hundreds of small-scale growers and the station’s meticulous approach.
- Processing Station – Gititu
- Altitude – 1,400–1,600 m above sea level
- Cupping score – 87 points