Bright bergamot and green apple acidity layered over fresh raspberry, redcurrant and milk chocolate in the finish.
Nyota means “star” in Swahili. It’s a name our supply partner Cofinet gave this coffee rather than one you’ll find on a map, and it tells you what the lot is for: the classic Central Highlands profile, delivered consistently, year after year.
The word “regional” is doing some quiet work there. Nyota isn’t one washing station. It’s a selection pulled from smallholders across cooperatives in the highest coffee zones of the Central Highlands, between 1,500 and 2,000 metres, on the deep red volcanic soils that ring Mount Kenya. Somebody cups a great many lots and assembles the ones singing in the same key. Less a compromise, more an act of editing.
From there it’s the traditional Kenyan washed method, which is about as exacting as processing gets. Cherries are pulped, fermented under close control, then washed thoroughly. Parchment dries slowly on raised beds before the coffee heads to the dry mill, where it’s finally graded by screen size. AB catches screens 15 and 16 – smaller beans than AA, and consistent enough in size that they roast evenly, which matters more to what ends up in your cup than the letter on the bag does.
In the trees: SL28 and SL34, the Scott Labs selections behind Kenya’s reputation, alongside Ruiru 11 and Batian, both bred at Ruiru to stand up to leaf rust and coffee berry disease. Four varieties, one cup, no fuss.
- Country: Kenya
- Region: Central Highlands (Mount Kenya)
- Producers: Smallholder farmers organised into cooperatives
- Varieties: SL28, SL34 (Scott Labs selections); Ruiru 11, Batian (CRI disease-resistant)
- Altitude: 1,500 – 2,000 m.a.s.l.
- Processing: Washed
- Grade: AB
- Soil: Red volcanic
- Annual rainfall: 1,200 – 1,800 mm