Blind Assessment: Very delicate; richly savory, deeply sweet. Lemongrass, prairie flowers, sassafras, honey, hibiscus in aroma and cup. Crisp, tart acidity; lightly silky mouthfeel. The quietly flavor-saturated short finish consolidates to gently drying lemon verbena with a hint of honey in the long.

Notes: Despite challenges ranging from unclear government coffee policy and urban encroachment on prime coffee lands to chronically unstable weather, the famed Kenya coffee auction system and its participating cooperatives continue to produce some of the world’s most elegant and distinctive coffees. This Kenya was produced from trees of the admired heirloom SL28 and SL34 varieties of Arabica. It was treated in a lab with an innovative procedure intended to mimic the impact on the beans of civet or kopi luwak processing, in which the beans are harvested from the feces of civets after the animal has digested the coffee fruit and defecated the beans. Founded in 2006, Very Famous International Co., Ltd. is a Taiwan-based specialty coffee roaster. For more information, email [email protected] or visit http://www.facebook.com/civetcoffeetea.

The Bottom Line : Worth trying for its unusual processing method alone, this Kenya civet coffee is also exceedingly delicate, closer to drinking a tart herbal tea than a traditional Kenya coffee.