Kamwangi

Description

This round-bodied peaberry lot features rich aromas of brown sugar, marmalade, and baked peach. Complex notes of marmalade, brown butter, and nutmeg accompany lively peach lemonade acidity in the cup, resolving in to a eucalyptus-tinged finish.

Details

Producer: Kamwangi Coffee Factory
Farm: Smallholders
Region: Kirinyaga
Altitude: 1,500-1,900 masl
Varietal: Peaberries of SL34 and SL28
Process: Washed
Roast: Light-Medium
Notes: Marmalade, Brown Butter, Peach

The Story

The Kamwangi Factory sits on the slopes of Mt. Kenya and is part of the New Ngariama Cooperative Society.

Kirinyaga’s altitude and volcanic soil make it perfect for growing sweet and complex coffees. Approximately 1,000 smallholders with an average of half a hectare each (about 250 trees) bring their hand-harvested cherries to the factory for processing.

The harvest is sorted by hand to remove unripe and defective cherries. The cherries are then depulped, sorted by density, and dry-fermented for 16-24 hours. They are then sent through the washing channels to remove the mucilage and once again sorted by density. This extra sorting ensures the characteristic dense sweetness of Kamwangi's coffee.

The sorted groups are soaked in fresh water for 24 hours for a final fermentation, adding a complex acidity to the flavor profile. The coffee is then dried on raised beds until it reaches 11% moisture content.

The Peaberry Mutation

Peaberries are the result of a natural mutation in which only one seed within the coffee cherry is fertilized. Instead of two coffee beans with flat faces and round backs within the cherry, a single rounded bean is the result.

Peaberries constitute a small percentage of each harvest and they are typically sorted into peaberry-only lots for consistency during the roasting process, as they are denser than regular coffee beans.

Text from PT's Coffee's listing.