Kenya Kirinyaga AA Coffee

Kirinyaga is both a county and the Kikuyu name for Mount Kenya. This AA comes from its southern foothills, where red volcanic soil and cool altitude slow the ripening of the cherries and build the blackcurrant, grapefruit and brown-sugar cup.

Origin & Story

Mount Kenya rises about 150 kilometers north-northeast of Nairobi, a volcano only 16.5 kilometers south of the equator. At 5,199 meters it is the second-highest mountain in Africa, and its three main summits are Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana. The Kikuyu people call it Kirinyaga, a name often explained by the white snow on its peaks, which is said to look like the tail feathers of an ostrich. Its eleven small glaciers are shrinking fast.

UNESCO made the mountain a World Heritage Site in 1997, and the water that runs off its forests supplies more than two million people. It also feeds the farms on its southern slopes in Kirinyaga County, where the soil is deep, red and volcanic.

Coffee here grows at roughly 1,400 to 1,900 meters. At the Kiangothe factory in the southern foothills, importers describe farmers growing SL28, SL34, Batian and Ruiru 11 at between 1,700 and 1,900 meters. The cool nights slow the cherries down, which gives them time to build sugar and acidity.

The AA on the label is only a bean size. What you taste is the mountain: blackcurrant brightness, grapefruit, brown sugar, and the savory tomato note that Kenyan coffees are known for.

Reading the Flavor Profile

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