The Kenya KIAMABARA from the Belgian roastery Gust Coffee Roaster is exactly the kind of Kenyan coffee you’ll fall in love with for its clarity, juiciness, and vibrant fruity character. In the cup, you’ll find a refreshing combination of homemade lemonade, sweet orange, ripe plum, and black currant. The pronounced fruitiness is underpinned by an elegant sweetness and fresh acidity, which is so typical of the best Kenyan coffees. Thanks to its light body and perfectly defined flavor profile, the coffee comes across as lively yet harmonious.
The coffee comes from the Kiamabara washing station, which was founded in 1995 and is part of the Mugaga Farmers’ Cooperative Society in Kenya’s Nyeri region, near the Kingu River and Mount Kenya National Park. The station processes coffee cherries from smallholder farmers who cultivate small plots at an elevation of around 1,600 meters above sea level in fertile volcanic soils. In addition to coffee trees, the farms also grow bananas, corn, beans, and macadamia nuts, which contributes to greater biodiversity and long-term soil fertility. The SL28, SL34, and Ruiru 11 varieties give this coffee a typical Kenyan combination of intense fruitiness, sweetness, and pleasant elegance.
After being hand-harvested, the coffee cherries are carefully sorted and pulped on the very same day. This is followed by overnight dry fermentation, which helps remove any remaining pulp; the beans are then washed with clean water and sorted by density in water channels. After another soaking, the parchment beans are transferred to raised African beds, where they are slowly sun-dried for one to two weeks. During drying, they are regularly turned and carefully monitored to ensure maximum quality. It is precisely this washed processing method that gives this coffee its exceptionally clean and distinct character, in which notes of lemonade, orange, plum, and black currant truly shine through.