NDIAINI PEABERRY

Why Kenya?

I chose this month's coffee for a simple reason: I love coffee from Kenya.

I haven't been to Kenya, but the bright profile of its coffees keeps drawing me back.

We don't bring coffee from Kenya into Transcend very often. The cost is high, which makes it a difficult fit for our regular lineup. Even when I would love to have one on the shelf, the economics have to work.

The Reserve Club gives us a little more room to make that kind of choice. This month, I wanted to use that opportunity to share a unique Kenyan offering with you.

Release No. 003 is a washed peaberry from Ndiaini in Nyeri. If Kenyan coffee is already a favourite of yours, I hope you're as pleased to see it here as I am. If it's new to you, I'm glad we get to introduce you to it.

The people behind Ndiaini

Ndiaini is part of Rumukia Farmers Cooperative Society. Here, “factory” means a shared coffee processing station, where farmers bring their cherries after harvest.

Royal Coffee identifies 315 contributing farmers. Their farms average half an acre to one acre, with many growing food crops alongside coffee.

What is a peaberry?

Most coffee cherries contain two seeds, which grow against each other and develop a flat side. Occasionally, a cherry develops just one seed. With more room to grow, it takes on a rounder shape. That's a peaberry.

Peaberries are separated from the rest of the harvest during sorting. The name describes the shape of the bean; it isn't a coffee variety or a guarantee of better flavour.

For this release, it gives us a chance to explore a particular selection from Ndiaini's harvest.

Care after harvest

At Ndiaini, cherries are sorted, depulped and fermented overnight. After washing, the coffee dries on raised tables for two to three weeks, depending on the weather. It then rests to allow its moisture to stabilize before milling.

In the cup

I roasted this coffee to a medium roast level, to accentuate the signature Kenyan coffee characteristics which most often presents a lot of complexity... brightness, juicy sweetness, along with subtly savory notes. I brewed up my first cup on my Moccamaster and tasted key lime, honey, along with subtle black tea notes.

When you brew it, give yourself a few sips while it's hot, then come back to it as it cools. It's a simple way to get to know a coffee beyond your first impression.

Kenya, back on the table

One of the pleasures of the Reserve Club is getting to share coffees we don't often have the opportunity to offer.

For me, this month's release is exactly that: a chance to spend some time with an origin I love, and to share that enjoyment with you.

I hope you enjoy it.

— Poul