Organization: Johnson Brothers Coffee Roasters, Madison, Wisconsin
Coffee: Kenya Peaberry Thika Gethumbwini
Reviewed: June 2009
Overall Rating: 96 points
Aroma: 8
Acidity: 9
Body: 8
Flavor: 9
Aftertaste: 8
Roast (Agtron): Light (57/90)
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Origin: South-central Kenya

Notes: Despite national coffee leadership marked by confusion and recent social disorder, Kenya cooperatives continue to produce some of the world's most elegant and distinctive coffees. This sample consists entirely of peaberries, a kind of bean that results when the coffee fruit develops only a single, oval bean rather than the usual pair of flat-sided beans. Peaberries produce a somewhat different (often better) cup than normal beans from the same crop, from which they may or may not be separated during grading. Johnson Brothers Coffee Roasters is a distinguished small-batch roasting company. Visit www.johnsonbrotherscoffee.com or call 608-256-5282 for more information.

Blind Assessment: Clean, complex, impeccable. Exhilaratingly dominated by crisp, nut-toned dry berry (blackberry, ripe black currant) in aroma and cup. Lush, lightly wine-toned acidity; medium body; syrupy mouthfeel. The underlying sweetness in the cup carries into the long, flavor-permeated finish.

Who should drink it: Strikingly complete expression of the great Kenya profile.

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