Roasting May 26th ONLY! (8oz Bags)

White Label Kenya Washed Ngomano Factory

Tasting Notes: roasted tomato, Rainier cherry, toffee, clove

Last month we explored the character of an SL-28 coffee seed grown not in its typical environment but in the Huila region of Colombia. We felt it would be interesting to contrast the character of that Colombian coffee with an SL-28-heavy coffee grown where the cultivar was originally bred and planted and continues to dominate today—Kenya.

SL-28 was designed to withstand drought but quickly became prized for its unmistakable flavor profile—bright fruit, sharp, winey acidity, often with distinctive savory qualities sometimes described as cooked tomato or tomato soup. While it will be a few months yet until coffees from its main crop become available, Kenya also produces a smaller “fly crop” that, with some determined searching, allows us to enjoy that unique Kenya profile in the off-season.

Kenya Ngomano Factory is a traditional washed fly-crop coffee culled from a tiny selection of the output of 1115 smallholder farmers organized around the Ngomano Factory (washing station) in the lesser-known coffee growing county of Machako. While geographically distant from the more famous central growing regions of Nyeri or Kirinyaga, Machako shares similar latitude and elevation and can therefore produce lots of quality equal to those more commonly heralded counties.

In contrast to the wild and varied iteration of the SL-28 cultivar from Colombia last month, this lot from Ngomano Factory is more singularly focused and immediately recognizable as a classic example of its origin. A hint of that electric Kenyan acidity up front is just enough to grab your attention without being sharp or bracing. The cup quickly softens into a more comfortable expression of the Kenya profile, presenting in the second stage a satiny mouthfeel and fruity aromatics of Rainier cherry (more honey-like and delicately floral than tart cherries), toffee, and the umami of slow-roasted tomato. An interesting light herbal minty/menthol quality overlays these aromatics, and the cup throws us a delicious twist by conjuring clove in the finish.

As is often the case with the best fly-crop Kenyas, Ngomano’s front end acidity was almost too tempered and muted by a full-city roast otherwise successful in emphasizing the back-end aromatics and silkiness of the overall cup. Lighter roasts brightened the front end considerably but at the expense of the pleasing cherry and savory tomato in the later stages. Post-roast blending a bit of the lighter approach with the full-city roast allowed us to retain the best of both worlds in our opinion to present a classic Kenyan profile from a fly-crop coffee.

Cultivars: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, and Batian

Region: Iveti, Machakos County, Kenya

Farm: Ngomano Farmer Cooperative Society

Elevation: 5600 to 5900 ft

Processing: Fully washed and dried on raised beds