Kenya has a reputation of producing some of the finest and most complex coffees in the world. Victrola’s new peaberry from Nyeri lives up to that reputation. This particular lot comes to us from the Othaya Cooperative in Nyeri County. Othaya operates 18 coffee factories, or wet mills, one of which is the Gura Mill located on the banks of the fast flowing Gura River and processes the Kenya you see here.
Numerous highly-skilled, small scale coffee farmers grow in the rich volcanic soil of the Aberdare mountain range and bring their harvest to the mill to be processed. One of the key stages of production, pictured here, is immediately sorting the coffee cherries and selecting only the bright red ripe cherries to be pulped and processed. Quality controls, such as this one, are one of the reasons we are continually impressed with Kenyan coffees.
While we are assured the each mill we purchase coffee from has similar, strict quality standards, this does not imply that the coffees being produced at each mill offer the same experience in the cup. This lot, produced at the Gura Mill, has sweet and juicy aromatics of vanilla, chocolate and blackberry with complex berry and herbal quality in the cup and a lingering, winey finish. Our other current offering from Kenya, the Embu Kiviuvi, is also a peaberry lot but displays brighter, more grapefruit like citrus qualities. Facts Wet Mill: Gura Region: Nyeri County Elevation: 5577-5900 ft Process: Washed Varietals: SL 28, SL 34, some Ruiri 11 Producer: Othaya Farmer’s Cooperative Society Tasting Notes Fragrance/Aroma: Vanilla, Chocolate, Blackberry Flavor: Blackberry, Winey, herbal Body: Full Finish: Dry, Winey, Earthy Acidity: Juicy You can find this coffee at our Seattle cafes as well as online. Here's a reminder about what the Kenya Embu Kiviuvi, Victrola's other Kenya peaberry, is all about. Here are some more photos from the Mills and Cooperatives in Kenya from which we're getting these delicious coffees:
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