Celebrating Kenya Coffee Beans

Main Producing Regions:	Nyeri, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Embu, Meru
Harvest Periods:	Fly Crop: June-August Main Harvest: September-March

 
At the high elevations clustered around the foothills of Mt. Kenya, some of the world’s finest coffees are produced. With their potent fruit sweetness, bold acidity and rich winey body, Kenya coffee is the “Gourmet Cup' sort after by specialty coffee buyers and drinkers. Kenyan coffees are powerful and bright with memorable, mouthwatering flavors.

A great Kenyan coffee is full of power and character.

That said, the distinct flavors of Kenyan coffees vary widely depending on the growing region, varietal and processing methods. For example fruit notes range from citrus (orange) to stone fruit (peach) to dark berry (blackcurrant) and everything in between. While Kenya's coffees have a similar underpinning flavor profile, its no surprise that coffee's from Nyeri will differ from Kirinyaga coffees or coffees from Central highlands will distinctly differ from Western highland coffees given differences in soil, temperatures, altitude, varietal, climate etc.

The diversity of Kenya coffee flavor profiles is part of the region's charm.

COFFEE GROWING REGIONS IN KENYA: 

Kenya’s green coffees are grown at high elevations ranging from 1,500 meters to 2,200 meters above sea level around the infamous foothills of Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare Range. Given their high-grown elevation, Kenya coffee beans qualify for the Strictly High Grown (SHG) / Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) status.
Most of Kenya's coffee is grown in the Central Highlands mainly Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Ruiru, Thika, Muranga, Embu & Meru. This area stretches one to fives hours outside that capital of Nairobi with Thika & Ruiru being on the outskirts and Meru being the farthest and closer to the Nyambene Hills. Coffees from the Central Highlands are celebrated for their red-orange, loamy volcanic soils, Bourbon SL varietals, and favorable equatorial sunlight.

Over the years up and coming regions like Machakos in Ukambani and regions in the Western Highlands like Kisii and Bungoma are stealthy producing stellar coffees that compete with coffees from Central. For example Kisii is growing Blue Mountain coffee around the foothills of Mt. Elgon where the climate and soil resembles that of Jamaica's Blue Mountain. 

At Grand Parade we source the best Kenya coffees from across the many growing regions with spectacular climates and nutrient rich volcanic soils. 

FARMER / CO-OPERATIVE PROFILE

Kenya's coffee industry is represented mainly by small holder farmers grouped in co-operatives and a few large coffee estate in Kiambu & Nyeri. Farmers grow coffee on their half to two hectare farms with about 100-300 trees. 

Kenya Harvest Seasons

The main coffee crop in kenya (mainly Central Highlands with the exception of Meru) starts to flower during the rainy period around March and April. The coffee cherry (fruit) begins to ripen from May to July ( Fly Crop), and then again in September and October (Main Crop). Most of Kenya’s coffee cherry ripen from October to January (Kirinyaga coffees come in later).

GRADING

Kenya upholds a letter-based size grading system. Screen sizes are measured in 64ths of an inch increments. “AA” the largest size grade consists of coffee beans with screen sizes 17 and 18. “AB” refers to 15/16 screen, “C” grade is 14/15 screen and “PB” is a small round peaberry bean. AA grade coffees typically fetch higher prices and are generally preferred by the international market. Over the years, we have found great coffees among the AB and PB graded coffees, as such we source coffee with an eye on quality and not bean size.