Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffees are famed for their beautiful fragrance. When darkly roasted of course some of these complexities are lost yet it still retains its distinctive character. The citrus acidity changes to a dark fruit sweetness, hints of blackcurrant, spice, nutmeg, bonfire toffee and a sugar cane aftertaste make it one of the most refined of darkly roasted coffees. The coffee grown in this lush, green, mountainous area at altitudes up to 8,000 feet is referred to as 'garden coffee' due to most of it being grown on small-holdings of less than 1 hectare producing something up to 5 sacks of coffee beans.
No collection of coffee would be complete without a prizewinning offering from Kenya. It delivers value for money for the aroma alone! Given a dark roast, expect the flavours to suggest treacle toffee, molasses, black cherry, caramel, red wine, plum, dark chocolate, muscovado sugar and dried apricot. Our Kenya coffee is grown by the smallholder farmers of the Bisembe co-operative in Kisii County, a mountainous region of western Kenya famed for evergreen farms. Recently, coffee from this co-operative won the Specialty Coffee Association's Blind Cupping Competition, scoring 98 out of 100.
This coffee bean at a dark roast is full bodied, with a brisk sweet flavour and exquisite bittersweet fruity aroma. Notes of treacle toffee, chocolate orange, caramel, raw cocoa, dried fruits, plum and molasses make it one of the world's great dark roast coffees. The blend of coffee bean varietals, including Bourbon, helps create this very complex flavour profile. It is sourced from the Majinja Farmer Group, which is currently made up of 20 farmers in the Ibembwe, Msia, Mbozi and Songwe regions.
