Massai

Pomelo, Blackcurrant, Prune

Massai is an amazing blend of flavors, from the tangy notes of pomelos and tangerines to the sweet hints of blackcurrant and prunes, will captivate you. With a wide range of flavors, this coffee is wonderfully full-bodied. The volcanic soil gives Massai a pleasant acidity, balanced by a velvety smoothness.

Producer

Massai

Region

Mont Kenya

Altitude of farms

1700 – 2200 masl

Arabica Varietal

K7 & Kiambu

Process

Washed

Suggested for

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Massai

About the farm

This selection is sourced from small farms located in the middle of the country, south of Mount Kenya, on the high plateaus of the Kiambu appellation. It is produced in the following counties: Nyeri, Kirinyaga and Kiambu.

Kenyan producers are generally smallholders. 2/3 own 300 trees on average and produce between 1,000 and 1,500 kg of cherries a year, while the remaining 1/3 owns estates, grouped into cooperatives.

Producers send their freshly harvested cherries to cooperatives, which then prepare the coffee. The process for this coffee, known as Kenyan washing or double washing, is considered a national expertise.

This preparation method, combined with good varieties like this k7, has positioned Kenya among the world’s most prestigious specialty coffee locations, and it has been producing coffees of a brilliant acidity for many years now.

In our opinion, Kenya has one of the most interesting and complicated histories with coffee: Despite sharing a border with the “birthplace of coffee,” Ethiopia, Kenya was one of the latest places planted in coffee, nearly 300 years after the plant was first cultivated for sale. In fact, the varieties that were brought to Kenya had circumnavigated the globe before they found their way back to the African continent, mutating in various climates to create a profile that, once adapted to the rich soil around Mt. Kenya, resulted in the singular profiles that this country has to offer.

The first plants were brought to the country by Scottish and French missionaries, the latter contributing what would be known as French Mission Bourbon, transplanted from the island of Bourbon (now called Reunion) to Tanzania and Kenya in an attempt to finance their efforts on the ground. The Scottish, meanwhile, brought strains from Mocha, the different varieties contributing to the dynamic quality of the coffees in the country even to this day.