With the popularity of the concept of specialty coffee, it has become people's consensus to emphasize the regional flavor, that is, the taste of the beans themselves, at least in part. The third wave after 2000 emphasized origin and light roasting flavor, and coffee from many origins became more and more familiar. Among them, Kenyan coffee is famous for its bright acidity.
If you want to drink juice-like coffee, Kenyan coffee beans are the right choice. Of course, if you want to get out the full acidity of Kenya and the taste of cherry tomatoes, you still need to learn how to brew this bean.
The first step, of course, is to understand the characteristics of this bean, so that you can adapt to the bean conditions. If you are an old friend of Front Street, you will definitely notice the coffee list on Front Street. Many large-producing countries have at least two types of coffee, but Kenya only has one on a regular basis, which is Azalea. This is because Kenya has truly achieved a unified flavor across the country.
From the map, Kenya’s northern neighbor is Ethiopia, which is full of wild coffee trees. However, Kenya does not have such excellent innate conditions. Kenya’s history of growing coffee is not long.20From the beginning of this century until now, only120In 2006, it was similar to Yunnan, but its development process was different.
in the last century30In the 1990s, Kenya screened seeds through Scott Laboratory and bredSL28withSL34Cultivation is promoted nationwide. This is very important. If you sow melons, you will reap melons; if you sow beans, you will reap beans.SL28withSL34These two varieties have very excellent berry acidity, and were later transplanted to some Central American estates. Last year, Costa RicaCOEThe variety of champion beans isSL28With Geisha.
Since then, in order to improve disease (pest) resistance in Kenya, the Kenya Coffee Research Institute promoted a new variety Ruiru11 in 1985 and promoted planting in some areas. Ruiru11 can be understood as the Kenyan version of Katim. Front Street was cupping Kenyan coffee beans mixed with Ruiru11. The flavor was slightly less sweet and sour, with a slightly mixed flavor. This also proves that variety has a significant impact on flavor.
Front Street believes that the bright acidity in Kenyan coffee is inseparable from their characteristic washing process.——K72Wash. The normal washing process is soaking in the fermentation tank24-48Dry in hours. In Kenya, the process is carried out first24Hours of water washing and fermentation process, then cleaning off the fallen pectin, and fermenting again in a clean pool24hours, then clean again and ferment again24hours, reach72hours. This high degree of washing steadily controls the quality and delivers bright acidity and clean sweetness.
Then go to Kenya’s coffee grading system. Kenya’s coffee beans are divided by size. The best ones areAA, followed byAB. The advantage of dividing by size is that after the varieties are selected, larger coffee beans represent fullness, high quality, and are also very friendly to roasting. In this way, the uniform quality of Kenyan coffee can be ensured. Although we can still distinguish the specific flavor differences of Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Kiambu and other production areas, they all generally have Kenyan characteristics of bright acidity, small tomatoes, and berry-like flavors. (That is, you can recognize the coffee from Kenya at the first sip)
Now that you know the information about Kenyan coffee beans, you can develop a brewing plan based on the characteristics of the beans. Kenya's high altitude, volcanic soil, good varieties, and refined processing have resulted in plump beans, large beans, hard texture, and good appearance. A problem that often occurs during brewing is drain clogging. In terms of grinding, Front Street does not recommend too much fine powder. You can choose a better quality grinder, or use a powder sifter to sift out the fine powder. The thickness should be based on the No. 20 standard sieve pass rate of 75%.
In terms of water temperature, Kenyan coffee is suitable for brewing at a relatively high temperature, which can bring out the fruity sweetness (small tomatoes) of the coffee. Front Street recommends using a water temperature of 93 degrees.
Front Street recommends using a powder-to-water ratio of 1:16. The Kenyan coffee itself has a solid taste that remains unchanged even when brewed to 16 times the powder-to-water ratio. The concentration brewed at 1:16 is very soft, with bright ume acid and the sweet and sour aroma of cherry tomatoes, which is very comfortable.
Amount of powder, if using small sizeV60Filter cup, Front Street recommends using at least15grams of ground coffee, if using the large sizeV60filter cup, it is recommended to use at least25Amount of coffee powder in grams.
When injecting water, you can raise the powder layer and inject water in small circles. This can thin the thickness of the powder layer and fully extract it, avoiding clogging of the (edge) channel and (bottom).
First, add 30ml of water and steam for 30 seconds. In the second stage, add 120ml of water. Inject water in a circle from the center outward until the surface is covered with golden foam. Then the circle shrinks to the center point, and the height of the powder layer reaches 1/2 of the short ribs.
Inject 90ml of water into the third section and fill in circles the size of coins. After all the coffee liquid has dripped into the sharing pot, the extraction time is 2 minutes (with an error of 10 seconds).
This brewing method can highlight the aroma and sweetness of the cherry tomatoes of Kenyan coffee, and also ensure the solid and translucent ebony acidity.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
