Kenya - Gatomboya AB #027 [25/26]

Turning in a staple of our yearly Kenyan offer, we've always been massive fans of the outturns from Gatomboya factory, for many years before we started Scenery. It's a pleasure to see this coffee return each year; this year we've chosen a different profile - an AB lot with singing acidity and complex top notes, as we had a few heavy purple Kenyans already booked. We think you can split Kenya into 3 distinct "colours" now - Purple (the classic savoury rich currant/tomato vibe), Red (lighter red fruits and jammy but perhaps not quite as umami or rich), and Yellow (stonefruit, citrus and florals). This lot is emphatically the last,

Brew Guide:

Best Brewed with: Filter

Lightest Roaster Influence: We've eased off the heat a little, subjecting these slightly smaller beans to a slightly less intense blast than we do for AA's. This has extended the overall roast time a little, but with good results - we found when we yeeted it on our standard Kenyan sample roast profile, it wanted to come out a little under & more malty tea-like than we'd prefer. A fractional more roaster influence perhaps in the cup, but all the better for it and still miles off what we'd call "Light"

Best Rested: 4+ weeks.

Filter: 64g/L, 96°C when fresh; 92°C & 62g/L when rested

Espresso: 18g/48g/18-22s

We're tasting: This year's Gatomboya lot is a little more of the modern "yellow fruit Kenya" style - we're finding floral and citric aromatics that remind us of darjeeling tea and lemon. In the cup there's yellow plum, nectarine and white mulberries as the dominant note, with a tart gooseberry esq acidity. As it cools we get lime curd, white grape, rosehip and oolong in a bright and complex cup.

Traceability

The Story

Gatomboya Factory, operated by the Barichu Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS), is located in the Nyeri region of Kenya, an area renowned for producing high-quality coffee with complex flavour profiles. The factory sits at an elevation of 1770 meters above sea level, where the fertile volcanic soils, known as "Nitosol," provide ideal conditions for coffee cultivation. This commitment to quality is vital in the context of the recent challenges faced by the Kenyan coffee industry, where issues with milling and export have prevented many stellar coffees from reaching their top potential. We often talk about how as roasters we can only make it worse - the raw material quality is locked in from the chain before us. The same occurs - without good starting material, you’ll get nowhere.

Approximately 700 smallholder farmers each cultivating an average of 0.4 hectares deliver their cherry to Gatomboya. The primary coffee varieties grown in this area are SL28 and SL34, known for their deep root systems and ability to thrive in Kenya's climate. These cultivars, developed by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the mid-20th century, have become staples of Kenyan coffee production, offering a degree of stability in a time of industry fluctuation.

Gatomboya Factory adheres to strict quality control measures throughout the processing stages. This commitment to quality, combined with the favourable growing conditions and careful post-harvest practices, results in coffee that consistently exhibits the desirable characteristics of Kenyan coffee: bright acidity, syrupy body, and deeply complex fruit flavours. It's always been one of our favourite factories in Kenya - long before even the concept of Scenery existed, back in our days as baristas it was legendary, and we're so glad to be able to showcase our own take on it.