Kenya Thika Karatu Peaberry

Karatu showed strong dark sugar smells in the ground coffee, with spice accents, and faint berry notes. After pouring hot water, a scent of unrefined brown sugars is raised in the steam, with accents of mulled grape juice, and an herbal-sweet note of spearmint. The cup at City roast level had complex sweetness that brings out profiles of soda, like cola, and the fruity side of Dr Pepper. There's also a very nice vanilla note that is complimentary to these flavors. Bright tones come through as the coffee cools, but aren't overpowering. I get citrus hints like blood orange, zested citrus peel, with some tart black currant. The cup aroma showed baking spice notes, ginger chew candy, and some star anise and mace in the aftertaste. I tried this coffee roasted to Full City too, and was left longing for the brighter, aromatic cup of my City roast. It still had a very nice grape note, but was a little too bittersweet for my taste. Ultimately, I don't recommend venturing beyond Full City, and will personally be sticking to City-City+ roasts (for me that falls somewhere between 12 to 15 F beyond the start of 1st Crack).