Kenya Nyeri Kaiguri AA

If there's such a thing as a "gateway" Kenya coffee, Kaiguri AA just might be it. What I mean by that is that the flavors bridge the gap between sweetness and acidity and should even appeal to the more acidity-averse coffee drinkers who think Kenya's are all high tones. I've roasted it a few different ways, cupped it, brewed as pour-over and even tried it as espresso, and have found it to be a sweetness-driven coffee more than anything else. The fragrance at City level is tartly sweet, with hints of spice cookie, plum, and dark sugars. The wet aroma has a potent honey sweetness, fragrant caramelized sugars, with hints of cinnamon and raisin. The cup has layered dark sugar sweetness, semi-refined types, like demerara and sucanat, molasses ginger cookie, with some pungent burnt sugar in the finish. Citrus and black tea notes accent the cup, but are not overbearing or out of balance. They bring a nice mouth-cleansing element to the light roasts, without tipping the scales to acidic and sharp. Full City roasts have dark chocolate roast flavors that rival any Central American coffee we have. There's a bittering flourless torte note that gives way to subtle notes of malted grains, and dark berry sauce. It makes a nice espresso too, front-loaded with dark, lightly-sweetened chocolate, and a subtle brine-like aspect brought out hints of salted plum, and chamoy tamarind.