Grown at altitudes over 6,600 feet above sea level, Kenya AA is considered one of the finest coffee beans in the world. Higher altitudes mean the beans grow more slowly than at lower altitudes, providing more nutrients and allowing them more time to develop their flavors and ripen.
Kenya's high plateaus produce full-bodied coffee beans with a rich, strong flavor and very pleasant acidity. The fragrant aroma also has floral tones, with a wine-like finish/aftertaste that also has citrus and berry nuances.
Criticisms of the Coffee
Kenya AA is often considered one of the brightest coffee beans in the world, although this is of course a topic of debate among coffee tasters and everyday specialty coffee lovers.
What is certain, however, is that Kenya AA is one of the finest coffee beans known and also one of the coffees preferred by coffee connoisseurs. The largest and best Kenyan coffee beans are the Kenya AA and Blueberry grades. Kenya AB is also frequently graded highly and is an acceptable substitute when AA is unavailable.
Green coffee
The fact that Kenya AA has consistently been one of the highest-rated coffees in the world means there's high demand and is a great way to introduce people to specialty coffee roasting. Whether you're buying for commercial roasting or just for your own home use, this is definitely a must-have.
The high quality (and price) of Kenya AA means that it is not often used in blends, but is simply sold as a single origin coffee.
Prices
Typical market fluctuations from year to year mean that prices rise and fall. This is sometimes linked to market conditions (supply and demand) and other times simply to the costs of raw materials: fertilizers, processing costs, etc. Retail prices remain fairly stable, typically changing once a year or several years depending on how volatile the market is.
On the other hand, wholesale green coffee from a middleman/importer is typically priced with a maximum validity of one or two weeks to accommodate smaller changes that are amplified in larger volumes.
Purchasing unroasted green coffee beans for home roasting can be achieved by starting with online distributors and wholesalers. The best quality control is to simply order a small quantity to test, review it yourself, and return for bulk purchases once everything is satisfactory.
Toasted
The finest AA Kenyan coffee is typically medium roasted to reveal the coffee's natural brilliance. Roasting it darker results in a loss of the nuances that make this bean so good, although it can be done for those who prefer their coffees with a more "coffee" flavor.
As with any single-origin Arabica coffee, freshly roasted coffee in the roast you like best will yield better results than old, stale coffee that may have been sitting in distribution warehouses and on shelves for months. When considering purchasing brands from major retailers like Amazon and Starbucks, it's important to make sure the coffee is labeled freshly roasted with a clear explanation of what that means; some companies label it "freshly roasted when packaged," when it could have been packaged months ago.
Organic Kenyan coffee isn't seen very often, but not for negative reasons. Kenya's coffee industry is one of the best-regulated, with high quality standards that function well without Fair Trade or Organic certifications.
Buy Coffee
The best way to buy in bulk is to buy freshly roasted coffee. Buying too much just to let it sit will cause the coffee to go stale, and orders can often be divided into smaller weekly shipments to maintain high quality. As the shipping cost as a percentage of the total order decreases, the order size increases.
When searching for quantities in the multi-bag region, careful planning must be done to provide sufficient lead time for the supplier. Ordering a single bag can be done by shipment, but this is very inefficient, as the cost can significantly increase the price. Typically, multiple bags should be ordered together to save on shipping costs.
Before closing this post, we'll share some facts you might not have known about one of the world's leading coffee producers: Kenya.
- Kenya is the 16th largest coffee-producing country in the world
- It accounts for 0.5% of the coffee grown worldwide.
- Kenyan coffee is grown on "estates" (farms) on mountain slopes between 1,700 and 1,800 meters above sea level (that's 5,578 to 5,906 feet).
