Kenya Muranga Kangunu AB

Kangunu AB has such a sweet fragrance of cane sugar in the grounds, along with pungent caramelized notes like flambé dessert, and dried fruit accents. Adding hot water, the wet aroma puts forward mild fruited character, dried tamarind, enveloped in caramel-vanilla sweetness, and hints of baking spice. When brewed, the cup sweetness rated very high for us (9.3!), and laid out complex flavors of pressed sugarcane juice, panela, unrefined cane sugar types, and fruits. Our City roast had notes of orange, tamarind, as well as some very nice stone fruit accents that came off like peach tea. Kangunu's top notes are well integrated into the cup sweetness, and so is the acidity. While I wouldn't exactly call it "balanced", it should appeal to those who enjoy complex Kenyan flavors but not so much the screaming bright acidity that are often part and parcel with those profiles. I found the acidic impression to be tea-like, and tannic, rather than citric and tart. As the coffee cools, the cup shows a smattering of aromatic spice notes, like anise seed and fennel, cinnamon, and ginger tea with lemon.