Kamwangi Peaberry, Kenya
Washed · New Ngariama, Kirinyaga
Notes of blackcurrant, blueberry and stewed apple.
We'd brew it as filter — a pour-over gives the blackcurrant and the bright acidity room to sing.
A bold, bright Kenyan peaberry — blackcurrant and blueberry, concentrated.
This is Kenyan coffee doing what it does best. Elderflower on the nose, then a rush of blackcurrant and blueberry, with stewed apple underneath and a full, juicy body. The acidity is high and bright — vivid rather than sharp.
It comes from the Kamwangi washing station in Kirinyaga, on the slopes of Mount Kenya, where around 1,500 smallholders of the New Ngariama cooperative grow SL28 and SL34 in deep red volcanic soil. This is the peaberry grade — the small, round single bean that forms in about one cherry in ten, picked out and kept separate because it drinks more concentrated and a touch sweeter than the rest of the lot. Hand-sorted, washed, and dried slowly on raised beds.
Available from ⟨DESPATCH DATE⟩. If you like your coffee bright, bold and unmistakably Kenyan, this is the one.
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Kamwangi Peaberry, Kenya
Taste profile.
- Aroma: elderflower cordial, bright and floral.
- Flavours: blackcurrant and blueberry over stewed apple, deep and juicy.
- Acidity: high — vivid and wine-like, the classic Kenyan lift.
- Body: full and syrupy, with the extra density the peaberry grade brings.
In the cup: An intense, classic Kenyan — blackcurrant and blueberry up front, stewed apple underneath, full-bodied and vivid from the first sip to the last.
Origin & producer.
Kamwangi is one of three washing stations run by the New Ngariama Cooperative Society in Kirinyaga, tucked into the north-east corner of the county on the slopes of Mount Kenya. Around 1,500 smallholders deliver ripe cherry here — most farming half an acre or so alongside bananas and macadamia — to be hand-sorted, pulped, fermented and washed, then dried slowly on raised beds. Established in 1983 and Rainforest Alliance certified, Kamwangi has quietly turned out some of Kirinyaga's most dependable coffees for years. The red volcanic soil and the altitude do the rest.
Process & quality.
A classic Kenyan washed process. Ripe cherry is hand-sorted, pulped and fermented for 24–36 hours, then washed and graded by density in the channels, usually with an overnight soak in clean water. The coffee is then dried slowly on raised African beds over 12–20 days, covered through the midday sun and overnight to keep the dry even. It's this careful, unhurried washing and drying that gives Kirinyaga coffee its clarity and that signature blackcurrant lift.
More details.
Origin Kenya
Region Kirinyaga (Ngariama, on the slopes of Mount Kenya)
Producer / Station Kamwangi washing station — New Ngariama Cooperative Society (~1,500 smallholders)
Altitude 1,100–1,800 maslVarietalSL28 and SL34 (with some Batian and Ruiru 11) — peaberry grade
Process Washed
Harvest November–December (main crop)
Roast Light–medium — roasted to suit the bean
We taste Blackcurrant, blueberry and stewed apple
Kirinyaga, on the slopes of Mount Kenya, is one of the most celebrated coffee counties on earth, and SL28 — the variety behind that unmistakable Kenyan blackcurrant — is at the heart of this lot. What sets this one apart is the grade: it's all peaberry, the small round single bean that forms in roughly one cherry in ten. Sorted out and kept apart, peaberries drink more concentrated and a shade sweeter — so you get the classic Kirinyaga profile, turned up.
If you like coffee bright, bold and fruit-forward — the kind with real presence in the cup — start here. Blackcurrant and blueberry over a full body, at its best on filter, and about as Kenyan as Kenyan coffee gets.