Kangunu Farmers Cooperative Society is located about 140 km North West of Nairobi in Murang'a North district of the Central Province. I had bought this coffee in the past, but we don't often focus on Murang'a lots because they are often a bit less dynamic in the cup than Nyeri region coffees. But the Murang'a area is a rich agricultural oasis on the slopes of the Aberdare Mountains. Kangunu is at 1740 meters, endowed with rich volcanic soils that are deep, well drained and have much organic material; perfect for coffee. This was an outstanding coffee from last years crop, so we were hoping to find a great Kangunu again for 2011. In blind cupping, we did, and some Peaberry lots as well. This coffee was bought outside the auction, via the direct trade mechanism in Kenya, called oddly the "Second Window" because in fact it allows one to pull a coffee from the auction listings and buy it first! With this, you can negotiate a price with the coop that they are sure is better than anything possible in the auction. This purchase offers a direct reward to the cooperative for producing a great lot, and incentive to do it again, which we have 2 years running.

The dry Fragrance shows bergamot floral and sweet red coffee fruit, with some sweet clove spice on the wet aroma. The break on the cup at a City roast level has mild melon that's more cherry-like at City+. The warm cup has cherry and pineapple notes and tangerine acidity complimented by the brightness of slightly under-ripe peaches. There is an incredibly creamy mouthfeel at all roast levels. As the cup cools there's some floral clove in the City+ roast. The dry fragrance and break on the Full City roast shows a lot of roastiness, but the cup is very sweet with black cherry and a thick syrupy body, showing none of the roastiness from the fragrance.

Kiunyu is one of two coffee "factories" of the Karithathi Farmer Cooperative Society in Kianyaga town, Kirinyaga district of the Kenya highlands. A factory is a wet mill in Kenya vernacular, where to cooperative farmers bring their coffee cherry fruit for processing. The fact is, in blind cupping we found that both of the Karithathi coops, Kiunyu and the other one, Kabingara, were just excellent this year. Kiunyu is situated at 1644 meters, and serves farmers in the villages of Kianduma, Kiambuku, Kiambatha, Gature and Kiamuki. Its membership currently stands at 1100, making it one of the larger coops in the area, quite near the protected forests of Mount Kenya. The region has deep, fertile well drained red volcanic soils which are ideal for coffee production. The farms in the area are planted with the SL-34 Kenya Bourbon varietal. It was a very competitive year in the Kenya auctions, and the prices reflected the high demand for a much smaller than average harvest. We found many great coffees from the Kirinyaga district, and were pretty excited with the quality of this lot from Kiunyu.

There is a sweet blackberry syrup in the dry fragrance on Full City, with caramel roast scents as well. At City roast the dry fragrance has mild citrus, malt, and shows more floral citrus on the wet aroma. There's a muted brightness on the break, with wild honey and graham cracker at Full City. The warm cup has a mild honeysuckle floral, and the floral notes really dominate as there's a very delicate acidity at all roast levels. There's a bit of black tea dryness in the finish at City+ and Full City. As the cup cools, some of the blackberry sweetness from the dry fragrance emerges, but with more of a cooked berry character without any tartness where the sugars are more prominent than the brightness. In the cool cup the crisp dryness in the finish at City level has a delicate pomegranate sweetness and acidity that's very pleasant. But for me Full City to Full City+ was such a nice sippin' coffee- balanced, sweet berry, more body. While not being a more "showy" Kenya, it's refinement makes for an approachable and enjoyable cup.

Ngunguru is one of three "factories" that form the Tekangu Farmers Cooperative Society. A factory is a wet mill in Kenya that serves a particular micro-region. Ngunguru is interesting in that it has member farmers from both the Mt. Kenya slope and the Aberdare zone. It serves farmers of the sub-location in Kirimukuyu with the Aberdare on one side and Mt. Kenya on the other. It's a beautiful location, averaging 1700 meters or more, and the wildlife list I have for the area lists snakes, deer, hare, weaverbirds, owl and hawks. I'll have to look for a weaverbird next time I am there. Tekangu is a really nice coop, with Tegu and Karagoto being the other 2 factories, and often nice coffees as well. This lot arrived in 2011 (current crop for Kenya) and has been in undisturbed hermetic vacuum packs to preserve cup quality.

This is a very interesting lot of Ngunguru, a potent heavyweight. I found it amazingly sweet in a rustic kind of way. The dry fragrance has raisin, chocolate-cocoa nibs, molasses. On the wet aroma these notes intensify, showing a more dark berry sweetness, Muscavado sugar, a burly rustic cup (for a Kenya). The warm cup has juicy black cherry quality and a clear, satiny body. The slightly darker roasts work best with this Ngunguru, City+ at a minimum, Full City ideally, and if you like a more pungent cup, Full City+. There are layers of dark berry notes here, black currant, cooked blackberry, and a syrupy finish with a bit of snappy dryness just at the aftertaste. The mouthfeel is folded satin. There's an intense and sustained brightness, yet it's a very well balanced with body and sweetness. Overall, this is a very unique Kenya flavor profile.

Tegu is a coffee washing station, a wet mill, a coffee factory. Well, it's all three. A "factory" is a wet mill where the coop members bring coffee cherry for pulping, fermenting, washing, drying. It's not the factory as we might imagine it. Small washing stations are aligned with a particular "society" which is what they call a cooperative in Kenya. Tegu is part of Tekangu Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS) which combines the names for their 3 factories: Tegu, Karagoto and Ngunguru. I visited them this season and the previous as well, since we have bought many small lots over time from Tekangu. While most of the lots this year grade out as the smaller AB preparation, the quality from Tegu has been remarkable. And of the 2 lots we secured this season, this chop is the truly the best. What I saw at Tegu was excellent sorting of cherry at the mill by each picker, before they submit the coffee to be processed. Over-ripe and immature cherries are culled out. They also have a system where pickers are graded as A or B. "A" pickers are those who have been proven to deliver well-selected and sorted cherry, and they are invited to submit coffee on the "A" day, when a higher price is paid. "B" pickers are still yet-to-be-proven, or have had more immatures and over-matures in their bags. They must come on the lowly "B" day and are paid less. Maybe it seems harsh, but there is no better way I have seen to create an incentive for quality harvesting, rather than mindless strip-picking of the coffee tree. (By the way, this A and B picker system has nothing to do with the AA or AB grade, that refers to screen size of the coffee at the dry mill only. AA, AB and PB all comes from the exact same lot submitted to the dry mill, and is separated only by the coffee size screening equipment). This review is for the third arrival of Tegu from the current crop, which was shipped in vacuum packs.

This is a classic main crop Kenya. The dry fragrance is malty, caramelly, with an almond hint. The darker roasts have increasingly potent brown sugar note on the grounds. The wet aroma has a touch of hop flower in the light roast, but wine-like black currant and raisin in darker roasts and on the break. At Full City the break is caramel with just a hint of rindy sharpness hiding in the back. The cup has a fruited character: currant, cherries with a hard-candy sweetness in the finish. Let this coffee rest after roasting! I really can't state enough what even one more extra day of rest does for this coffee, the winey and jammy acidity is fully integrated into the syrupy body and there's more complexity to the sweetness, with caramel and vanilla present at FC. Dark berry notes that weren't present at 12 hours of rest really emerged at 24 hours rest, and were even more intense at 48 hours. At the right roast, the mouthfeel has this interesting "fatty" confectionery quality, but this could be an effect of the flavors. C+ is where I got this coffee to sing for me, the body is nice and the melon is intense with a muscovado sugar... so sweet. This is not the most citric or acidic Kenya, and some will find it less compelling as such. I think the balance, body and depth are welcome qualities.