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Slightly smaller than Texas with almost twice the population and less than half available farmland, Kenya leverages its terroir masterfully on the world stage as a coffee powerhouse cultivating intense bright acidity and complex flavors. The country conjures the exotic and mystical… the songlike native Bantu Swahili spoken in curiosity filled markets, images of the ancestral Maasai trotting across the plains on the hunt for lion or romantic revelations of the Serengeti’s velt stretching into the southlands of Tanzania with distant views of Mt. Kilimanjaro… as far the imagination wishes. The paleontological ancient historical significance of this land can’t be overstated but we wish to focus on the romance. In her memoir “Out of Africa”, Karen Blixen writes “Up in this air you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart.” The memoir is centered around her ownership of a Kenyan coffee farm and the associated difficulties of drought, pestilence and falling market prices which possibly inspired the line “Perhaps he knew, as I did not, that the Earth was made round so that we would not see too far down the road.” Although forced to sell the farm, Blixen writes “When you have caught the rhythm of Africa, you find out that it is the same in all her music.” Ahh… the rhythm’s of Africa. The complexity, spiritual depth and innovative approach of the great jazz saxophonist John Coletrane in his 1961 landmark album “My Favorite Things” highlights his mastery of African rhythms using only two chords from a diatonically derived Phrygian mode to create such an incredible exotic sound. Arguably, his opus, the 1965 album “A Love Supreme”, was a deep dive into the universal spiritual connection of African rhythm and, I believe he would confer, his tonal salvation. A hard pivot to the funky art rock band Talking Heads who, with the brilliant Brain Enos producing, give full acknowledgement to Nigerian Afrobeat and blended polyrhythms on their 1980 album “Remain in Light”.
My point… the pull of Africa seems to infuse the soul of anyone willing to listen… this includes their coffee and, in this case, our wonderful Kenya Kirinyaga Kiangoi AA. At times like the music, this coffee’s seeming simplicity taken to a crescendo can leave your head somewhat spinning due to the unremarked complexity. African coffees can be this way… like Coltrane, if you allow the music to develop all becomes clear… if you allow the coffee to cool then the flavor is revealed. The grind is sweet, caramel, a cornucopia of fruit and citrus. At the brew honey, lemon zest, clove and very sweet. The cup starts sweet with lots of fruit and cools with grape, orange zest, cherry, cinnamon and lemon, perhaps lemonade due to the sweetness. Well balanced with no flavor overwhelming the other. One must work to figure out the flavors or, giving yourself some space, just enjoy the moment. Like Coltrane, sometimes you just have to enjoy the riff and let the music take you where it may. The assortment of flavors in this cup will lift your spirit and illuminate your core… if you let the music take you. Peace out and enjoy.
Process: Washed… all fruit removed.
Elevation: 5900 feet
